The Wind's Breath
by DarkSimorgh
Summary: A crimson bird, a wolf, and a firefly accompany Link as he discovers just how hard it is to be a hero. Also, I am terrible at summaries. Rated T for language and blood.
1. Prologue

_On a particularly windy day, go outside and listen. Listen to the wind, for it has many stories to tell. On its journey, it has picked up scraps of voices, gasps of shock, and whispered secrets that were meant for only one other. It has picked up small breezes from sun-kissed islands, mighty gusts that have burst forth from the maws of molten mountains, the tiniest trickles of air that have managed to escape tombs sealed deep underground, and the bursts of a forgotten era that have been captured by little air bubbles as they rushed upwards to reveal their contents at the water's surface._

_Close your eyes. Breathe in the wind as it passes by. Listen closely. Do you hear the cry of seagulls? Do you smell the salty tang of the sea? Or maybe that was the scent of fallen tears... or maybe it was blood?_

_Though the minds of men dull with time, their stories live on forever, carried on by the wind's breath. _

_This is but one of the legends heard from the winds._


	2. Crimson Wing

Author's Note: Hi, guys! Thanks so much for spending the time to read this note as well as the story. I know the prologue was cheesy, but it seemed to fit. This is the first fanfic that I've mustered the courage to post and I hope that you enjoy it, even if I myself can't help but feel like I could make this loads better if I had the talent. Also, I do not own any part of the Legend of Zelda series, Nintendo owns the world, etc.  
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"Once…there was a land…that hid a gold power….uh…"

"Uh…there was this really bad guy, and um a hero came and killed him but it didn't really work because the bad guy came back and everyone died the end."

Silence.

"Or….something like that."

Sturgeon raised his staff as if to swat Link across the head, but then seemed to think better of it. "I'm not even going to begin to tell you how horribly inaccurate that was."

Link stared at the table. It was old, carved from driftwood that had washed up on to the shores of Outset many years ago. How the old man had managed to get it up to his second floor room, Link could only guess. He peeked up at Sturgeon and asked in a small voice, "Can I look at Sea Charts now?"

The wizened old man, once a powerful swordsman-or so he said-shook his head, and Link returned his gaze to the table. "You know the rules, Link," he said, "Your grandma would kill me if I gave you any of those Charts to look at before you came of age. You're still too young to be thinking of leaving the island."

He reached out his hand and patted the young boy on the head. "But that's only a week from now, so don't look so sad."

"But seven days is like, forever!" Link exclaimed. Sturgeon raised an eyebrow. It was surprising to see Link act like this. Usually it was his younger sister who did the whining and the pouting, but it was quite clear that Link was very impatient when it came to the concept of exploring the Great Sea. Sturgeon couldn't help but see himself in the boy. Why, it felt like only yesterday that he and his brother had set off in their rickety sailboat to explore the Sea and hone their sword skills. He understood the boy's plight.

He heaved a great sigh and said, "Alright. Your lesson is over."

Immediately, Link perked up, his dark green eyes shining. "Really?"

"Yes, yes, now get out!"

Link jumped out of his seat and began to run for the door. However, he stopped halfway and clumsily whipped around to bow to Sturgeon respectfully before resuming his escape.

Sturgeon watched the boy go, and could not help but feel a little old.

Link grinned as he stuck his bare feet in the waves, wiggling his toes as they were briefly swallowed by the sea. He hated lessons with Sturgeon. He meant well, Link was sure, but the Sea Charts that drew Link's gaze every day were off limits for another agonizing week. He'd much rather learn swordplay from Orca, but he kept saying that he was too young or something. Link wasn't sure. He tended to zone out after the word '_No_'.

Link lay on the beach, letting out a sigh of pleasure as the wind brushed gently past his face. Link didn't regret growing up on such a peaceful island, not at all. It was just a little…boring sometimes. Watching the seagulls above him wheel around lazily in the sky, he—

Hey, what was that? Link squinted. Is that seagull…red?

Yes, it was definitely red. A red seagull? No, maybe not a seagull. Too big for a seagull. Sure was funny looking. The red bird wheeled amongst the seagulls, slowly descending until it landed on a bridge post near Link. It had a white chest and red feathers, and a really large yellow beak that seemed to give it a permanent grin. It was bigger than a seagull, possibly reaching up to Link's lower ribcage area.

It twisted its head to inspect Link with its golden eye. Link tilted his head to the left. The bird titled its head to the right. Link titled his head to the right. The bird mirrored his movements.

"Hey birdie," Link said. He stuck his hand out to the bird. The bird stared at the hand for a little while. Link reached further, almost touching the bird's head.

"Big brother, what are you doing?"

Link turned his head to see his younger sister looking at him with confusion. She also had dark green eyes and blonde hair, which she tied into pigtails. She held a small pot on her head, in an attempt to mimic the way women carried water around on this island. She was only nine, but she was already trying to help their Grandma around the house.

"I'm trying to pet the bird." He looked back at the bird, who was still staring at him with that big grin. "Isn't it weird looking?"

Aryll looked at her brother. Then she looked at the empty air around his outstretched hand. A little giggle escaped her mouth. "What bird, big brother?"

"What? This red bird, duh."

"There's nothing there!" Aryll burst into laughter. Some water spilled from the pot, and she had to reduce her laughter to chortles to prevent any more from escaping.

"There is too! See?"

But Aryll could not see the bird. In fact, every time he pointed it out to someone, they just shook their head and told him there was nothing there. At first Link thought everyone was playing a mean trick on him, but then after a few days he realized that he was the only one that could see this grinning red creature. So, he decided to ignore it.

The bird followed Link around the island, watching him as he chased wild piggies across the island. Link ignored the bird, pretending it wasn't there, and instead focused on throwing the pigs into Mrs. Rose's pen. The bird watched Link as he went about his daily life on Outset island, watching as he earned rupees from helping his neighbors, failed repeatedly at Sturgeon's lessons, and practiced leaping across boulders until he was finally good enough to reach that stray yellow rupee on the far rock—worth a whopping ten green ones!

When Link strutted proudly out of Beedle's Shop Ship with his new Bait Bag, the bird was there. It knew where he was hiding in that intense game of hide-and-go-seek. It peeked through the window while Link was reading Aryll a bedtime story.

The bird became a nuisance for Link, because it just wouldn't _go away_. Link was convinced that if he ignored it for long enough, it would. Six days passed, which seemed like an eternity to a child of eleven, and still the red bird was there.

The day before his birthday was filled with hushed excitement. Adults looked at Link with ill-hidden mirth, and children regarded him with wonder. Link was going to come of age soon, the age when the ancient Hero himself set forth to destroy the great evil! …Of course, that sort of backfired in the end, but everyone kind of ignored that last part.

That night, Link ate his dinner, kissed his Grandma on the cheek, and headed for the door.

"Make sure you come home before sundown!" she called after him. Aryll waved goodbye from the table; she still had to finish her vegetables, an ongoing trial that their Grandma continued to undergo every night.

"I will," Link shouted back. He walked past Mr. Abe and Joel, carrying bait up the hill for their new piggies. He listened to the sound his feet made when he crossed the bridge. He walked along the path to the watchtower, then turned right, up towards the cliff. He walked up along the path, his hand absentmindedly trailing the cliff wall on his left.

Up ahead, a bunch of young saplings barred his path. Orca and Sturgeon had planted these to keep any monsters from the ominous forest that perched atop the mountainous area of the island away from the village. However, the saplings were not designed to block thirteen-year-old kids. Link squeezed his torso and legs through easily enough; the tough part was getting his head through. He grimaced as little by little, he managed to get his head past the miniature trees. Honestly, he thought his head got bigger every year—but he didn't tell anyone that.

Finally, he stood atop the cliff and looked out at the vast expanse of water that is the Great Sea. The sun shone bright on the water, and the wind carried with it the salty tang of the waves as well as the sweet smell of island flowers. Seagulls cried as they circled over schools of fish. There was the sound of large, beating wings as the red bird settled nearby him. Link made a point of ignoring it.

He sighed. Life on Outset was great and all, but there was so much more out there! Orca had once travelled the seas as a master swordsman, and he had told Link great tales of islands covered in ice, of mountains where great red dragons perched, and other wondrous things. What did Outset have? Pigs, that's what. Just pigs.

The wind blew at him and he leaned into it, wishing for it to carry him away to far-off islands filled with adventure. Just one? Please? He promised that he would be home by sundown.

Indeed, the sun was beginning to set. Link shook his head to clear it of the many daydreams that filled the swiftly passing hours. Looks like he had to go home now, and go to bed, and wake up, and start the whole cycle over.

He eyed the setting sun. "I have a few more minutes," he said, and was off again past the—hhhrrrrghh!—saplings, this time headed for the watchtower. He climbed the ladder knowing full well the earful he'd get from Grandma if he stayed longer than a minute or two, but he couldn't help himself. Just one look, and that would be it.

No one really used this watchtower except Aryll and himself. Aryll loved looking around with her telescope (a gift from Sturgeon, who had used it on his travels) and playing with the seagulls, who would flock to her as soon as they saw her: they seemed sense the pure kindness in her soul.

The seagulls in the watchtower scattered when Link neared the top. What this said about his soul, he didn't bother thinking about. He wasn't even winded from the long climb, since he had been doing it for years. Up and down, up and down. Up was a tedious hand-foot-hand-foot movement and down was an exhilarating jump. Usually. When it was really hot, he would purposely climb the ladder just so he could dive into the ocean…but Grandma would always chide him about getting his clothes wet afterwards. Other times, he would leap off of the watchtower and try to hit the dock rolling. Sometimes he succeeded and other times he missed and fell into the water. Then there was that one time he had rolled wrong and had broken his wrist. Needless to say, Link tended to take the ladder down nowadays when he didn't want to get in trouble. Usually.

Link leaned over the railing of the watchtower, the northernmost point on the island, and squinted. The island one quadrant north was a black, rectangular smudge on the horizon, but Link loved to imagine that he could see the tiny specks that were the cannon boats guarding the reef. He never really bothered looking to the islands to the east or west-Orca's accounts of them sounded boring.

"One's this curved U-shaped island," Orca once said.

"IT'S CALLED A HORSESHOE," Sturgeon had yelled from upstairs. "HORSESHOE ISLAND."

"NO ONE CARES," Orca had yelled back. Then turning again to Link: "It's covered in vines. The island to the east just has a big rock on it."

"HEADSTONE I-"

"I SAID NO ONE CARES!"

The one to the north, though, was Five-Eye Reef, with cannon boats and sea platforms filled with monsters! Link leaned forward even more, trying to catch a glimpse of-well, anything that wasn't this island.

…aaand here was the stupid bird again, landing on the railing right beside him.

"What do you want?" Link said to it, forgetting that he was supposed to be ignoring it. He was this close to throwing a rock at it to make it go away…though that would mean going back down to try and find a rock first. But he was this close to doing that!

The bird cocked its head to one side. "Hello!"

Link blinked. He blinked again.

"Sorry it took me so long to talk," the bird said. "I just wanted to make sure that you really were the hero!" It wasn't even a squawky bird voice that came from the big yellow beak. The voice of the bird was of a young man, around 20.

Link continued to stare.

The bird extended a crimson wing. "Call me…" If the bird could grin any more, it did. "Sky."

The bird was talking. The bird that no one else could see and had followed him around the island for days…was _talking_. Link proceeded with caution.

This involved him turning around and sprinting as far as he could away from the bird. Of course, when there is a giant pole in the way, far is not that far at all.

There was a loud _CRACK_ as Link's face connected with the pole, and he fell down, unmoving.

Sky cocked his head to the side. "Okay, maybe not the best of beginnings…" He turned to look out at the Sea.

"…but I'm sure it'll turn out fine."


	3. First Blood

Author's Note: Guys. Guys guess what. People like this. People reviewed this. I am so happy right now. Thank you so much for reading this. T-T I plan on updating ever Tuesday from now on so bear with me. I hope you enjoy this and please R&R thank you!

"Big Brother!"

"flhmgnfahdf," Link grumbled into the boards. Sometime during the night, unconsciousness had turned into sleep. The first thing Link felt as he slowly awoke was a dull throbbing in his forehead. Peeling himself off of the watchtower floor, he turned towards the ladder. He could've sworn his sister was there a minute ago. Link got up, stretched, and started with surprise when his sister snuck up on him. Half of the words that she said bounced off of his head. He was still pretty sleepy.

"…Big Brother, it's your birthday!"

"Huh? Oh yeah…" Link rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed. Even though he was older, Aryll was always the one reminding him about things like this. He would probably forget to put pants on if she didn't tell him.

"That's why Grandma has been waiting for you to come back to the house she's been waiting for a while now it's a good thing I came to find you you should probably go home and see what Grandma wants don't you think?" Aryll blurted out in what seemed to be one long sentence. She was swaying from side to side very quickly and there was a big grin on her young face, an infectious grin that caused Link's own lips to lift upwards. She was always so energetic and upbeat. What would he do without her?

"Yeah, probably," Link said with a half laugh. "Thanks, Aryll!" She giggled and waved him off as he began to clamber over the railing, stopped, thought better of it, and instead climbed down the ladder.

"What a nice girl! Is she your sister?"

"WAAAGH!" The voice startled Link, making him miss a rung and hit his forehead again. However, the pain was blocked out by the single thought in his head: _OH GODS_.

"You're. Not. Real," he said through gritted teeth as he continued to climb down the ladder.

Sky hovered in the air, flapping his disproportionately large wings to stay aloft. "Of course I'm real," he said flippantly. "I just can't be seen or heard by anyone else."

"Please go away."

"Where would I go to? You're the reason I'm here in the first place." His golden eye inspected Link. "You're the hero."

Link ran down the path, pretending not to hear Sturgeon's call for another lesson as he made his way home. "What hero no I'm not." The two replies slurred together didn't bother the bird. When Link entered his house, the bird waited patiently on the roof. He hooked his claws into the thatched roof and titled forward, so that when he craned his long neck, he was granted an upside-down view of the goings-on in Link's house. His Grandma was holding something out to Link, who didn't seem very happy about it. Then his Grandma waddled off somewhere else and Link turned around to watch her go. Sky caught a glimpse of what he was holding and jerked himself upright with a quiet chuckle.

When Link came out, the bird puffed out his feathers a bit.

"Told you," he said triumphantly.

Link picked at the sleeves of the stupid green tunic he had to wear. It was so _hot_…he missed his old, breathable shirt. And he was sure that this hat was going to fall off almost immediately.

"No, I have to wear this because it's my birthday and I'm coming of age." Link tried to readjust the belt. "Grandma said so." He started to run towards the watchtower again, and groaned inwardly; he was already beginning to sweat. Sky followed.

"Whatever you say," said the bird, a little amused. He had been waiting for a catastrophic event all week, but nothing yet had happened on this peaceful little island. Sky was starting to think that this particular Link would have a relatively easy adventure.

Link was a little relieved when the bird stopped talking. Its man-voice was kind of creepy, and it was convinced that he was the Hero of Time or whatever. Oh, and it definitely wasn't real. Right? A scrap of a memory emerged from the depths of his mind when he climbed the ladder again. It was an old saying that Orca said on occasion.

As Link, touched, accepted Aryll's precious telescope, which she was willing to loan to him just for his birthday, the words reverberated in his mind. The words filled him with a sort of anxiety that he could not understand, and when Aryll screamed for him to look up at the sky, he almost didn't want to, for fear of events that had yet to occur. As Link focused in on a giant purple bird carrying a blonde girl in its claws, and watched a pirate ship fling stones at the bird, the words went on repeating in his head:

_Stranger things have happened on the Great Sea_.

"No, you're bending your arm too much. Try to keep it stiff."

Link did so, and the sapling finally came toppling down. He wobbled a little; Sky pretended not to notice.

"Good job! You're a natural!" he said encouragingly, though Link's face reflected the doubt that was in Sky's own heart. Five minutes of sword training was not enough to prepare this boy for the monsters that prowled the forest. Most Links had trained with swords for quite some time before their adventure had begun. That old man had just smacked Link around a bit and declared him fit for battle. Maybe he didn't believe Link when he told him of the girl that had been dropped into the forest by a giant purple bird that was-in case it couldn't get any weirder-being chased by pirates.

Sky couldn't help but feel nervous-this Link was possibly the least prepared of all the Links for the trials that no doubt awaited him.

Sky was looking into the dark entryway of the forest, wondering if Link could face the monsters that lied within. When he turned around, he noticed Link was still standing on the bridge, staring through the hole created by a missing plank. The Sea was a long way down; the boulders that he often jumped across looked like the tiny rocks found on the beach from up here. The boy swayed uncertainly, then closed his eyes, and leaped. He landed on the other side of the plank, stumbled, and fell face-first on to the bridge. The bird tried not to grimace. He just needed a little practice was all, and he would be a hero in no time…probably.

Sky took a deep breath and flew into the forest. It was dark, and the many trees blocked the wind. He noticed that Link, who had had the wind blowing all around him his entire life, looked uncomfortable in these stifled surroundings. Sky squared his bird-shoulders. Well, this was his job, wasn't it? He had to help Link however he could through his adventure!

A brief flight helped Sky get his bearings. He landed next to Link. "The girl's up in a tree over there, see?" Link nodded. Though he still thought the bird was crazy, he was helpful enough and gave him tips about swordplay. It was probably a good idea to listen to him for now.

"There's a monster to the right. It looks pretty weak, but you should still be careful."

Link nodded again. He gripped his sword and slowly walked toward the bluish-beast, a Bokoblin, if Orca's descriptions were as accurate as he claimed they were. The Bokoblin caught scent of Link and its dark eyes locked on to him. It began charging at Link.

Link froze. His arm dangled uselessly by his side. This was not a training session. This was an actual monster. His mind went blank.

"ATTACK!" Sky yelled. His voice came out as a half-bird screech, which was enough to jolt Link back into focus. Not knowing what else to do, he closed his eyes and swung his sword. There was a thud, and his sword was lodged in something. Link opened his eyes to see that he had buried his sword deep into the Bokoblin's upper arm. Blood was slowly seeping out of the sides. The creature's nostrils were flared, and it struggled to break free.

"GET BACK!" Sky was circling over the fight, more anxious than he had been in a long time. The Bokoblin punched Link in the shoulder, and Sky flinched instinctively. Okay, that didn't look like it hurt that much, but Link had to get his sword free!

Finally, he did, and without thought, slashed at the Bokoblin again. Link caught sight of intestines gleaming with blood before he could look away, nauseated. The monster stumbled back and fell to the ground. Link sat down on the ground, shaken by what he had just accomplished.

"I killed it," he said quietly.

Sky landed next to him, beaming. "Yes, you did! Congratulations!"

Link looked at the bird. Why was he so happy?! "Grandma said killing something is the worst thing you could ever do."

Oh. That was why he was so upset.

Link's head jerked back to the corpse as a gurgling, phlegmy sound arose from its throat. The Bokoblin vomited up a single green Rupee, spotted with viscous black fluid, before all life left it completely. The corpse then immediately began to blacken. After an hour, it would begin to smell. After a day, it would be as dark as fresh-tilled soil. And then when nobody was looking, it would disappear.

"Uh," Link said.

"Someone once told me," Sky said in a low voice, "That all monsters are born from the singular hatred of a great evil. Pieces of this hatred attach themselves to things like Rupees or a skull. Once attached to something of this world, they take shape in the form of monsters. So don't think of yourself as killing something. Think of it as fighting pieces of evil. Soulless, mindless evil."

"Okay," Link said flatly. The crimson bird titled his head, unsure if his words had proven successful. But after a few minutes, Link got up and began to move forward again, so the words had to have had some impact.

Link ignored the Rupee.

Clambering over fallen logs and rocks, Link managed to get to a clearing from which he could climb up to the tree where the girl was stuck. He breathed an inward sigh of relief, glad that he didn't have to fight any more monsters.

He had sighed too soon.

With the nasal cries of two large birds came two Bokoblins, dropped right from the sky. Link barely noticed the carrier Kargarocs that flew away once having delivered their cargo. The Bokoblins growled at Link's face. He took this time to slash at both of them, leaving livid cuts on the monsters' faces.

_They're not real, just evil. Just hatred._ Link kept repeating Sky's words in his head. _It's not…it's not murder. It's not wrong. They're evil, it's okay of I kill them._ Several swipes of his sword merited Link a view of a Bokoblin's innards before it collapsed to the ground. The other Bokoblin leaped over the cadaver and lunged at Link.

"Link!" Sky cried. Link held up his sword, but could not close his eyes. He stared in horror as the sword penetrated deep into the Bokoblin's own eye, until it jarred to a halt when the tip scraped the far side of the Bokoblin's inner skull. Link couldn't move. Blood spurted from the eye socket. The air smelled of rust and sweat. Just as the monster began to turn black, it coughed. Blood splattered all over Link's face. A Rupee dribbled out from its maw. As Link lowered his sword arm, the corpse slipped free from the blade and lay at his feet.

Link did not move. Bokoblin blood dripped down his face and stained his shirt. Sky landed nearby and walked over to the boy. No one else had ever reacted this way to slaying monsters… "Link…?"

The boy began to tremble uncontrollably. With his eyes squeezed shut, he lowered his head and let out a series of dry sobs. His grip on the bloodstained sword tightened and after a little while, the sobs subsided. The trembling stopped soon after.

Link wiped the blood from his face, knowing that Sky stood nearby, unsure of how to react. He sheathed the sword, took a deep breath, and began to climb up to where the girl hung in the tree.

As he climbed, he heard a cracking sound, a cry of surprise, and then a thud. Well there went the problem of getting her down…

Link, upon reaching the spot where the girl fell, could not help but notice that she was rather pretty. She had dark tanned skin and pretty blond hair tied up into a bun and-

"What's with that get-up? Well, whatever. So, where am I...?"

Okay, so he didn't say that she might be a jerk. Some pirate-looking guy entered the forest, bursting into tears upon the sight of the girl. Their words meant nothing to Link, as he was struggling to forget why blood clumped in his hair and his mouth tasted like bile. Noticing that the two were leaving the forest, Link followed them outside.

The fresh sea breeze cleansed his mind of the horrors of the forest and brought Link back into focus. People were standing on the beach, inspecting the huge pirate ship docked at the island. Pirates were carrying things on board, probably restocking food and water. Outset Island's major export was salted pork.

"Hoy! Big Brother!"

Aryll was waving from the other side of the bridge. She wasn't supposed to be up here, but Link wasn't surprised. When she was determined to do something, nothing stopped her. With a bit of an exasperated smile dancing across his lips, he lifted his hand to wave back. So what if these pirates were jerks? They would soon leave and everything would return to normal. Aryll, ever impatient, started to cross the bridge, the sooner to tell her brother how cool he looked with that sword. And to ask why he was covered in blackish mud.

Suddenly, the playful southern wind turned into a harsh gale, as if a demon had possessed the friendly wind and had turned it into a screaming monster. With the wind came a large screeching sound and the enormous purple bird from before flew into view.

Link wasn't even able to scream anything before the bird had swooped in and taken his sister. The pirates looked on, stunned.

"ARYLL!"

Their eyes fixed on to Link when they heard the sound of a sword being pulled out of its scabbard. Link, as if in a trance, began running towards the bird. He had to save Aryll-!

Sky's shout went unprocessed in his mind. "Link STOP YOU'RE ON A CLI-!"

Now air was the only thing supporting his weight. Link looked down to see the Sea waiting for him down below. He began to fall.

At the last second, the pirate girl caught his hand and managed keep him from plummeting to his death. Sky circled around nervously, just about to dive for Link himself.

"Stupid kid! Calm down, she's gone!" the pirate girl yelled at Link, but he didn't hear her. He _refused_ to hear her. Aryll was not gone! He had to save her! He struggled fiercely in an attempt to break free of her grip.

"BIG BROTHER!" Aryll's heart-wrenching cries for help grew increasingly faint.

"ARYLL!" Link yelled after his sister. "I'M COMING! I'LL SAVE YOU!" The girl's grip on Link began to slip as he continued to writhe around.

"LINK!" Sky flew towards Link until his beak was almost touching the youth's face. His golden eyes penetrated Link's hysteria and his wings buffeted the boy with wind. "She's gone. There's nothing you can do." His words had a trace of sadness in them.

Link stopped struggling, and could only watch helplessly as his beloved little sister was carried further and further away, until she was only a speck on the horizon, and now completely gone.


	4. Leaving

Author's Note: Hey guys! It's been a tough week for me personally, and it's about to get tough for Link, too. I edited the crap out of this and I still don't feel satisfied. What do you guys think? Anyways, thanks for taking the time out of your schedule to read this, please R&R, I really appreciate it. :3  
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The descent down to the beaches of Outset was silent. Link was numb inside, still stunned that he had failed to protect Aryll from the giant bird. The pirates left him to the villagers while they continued to move things on to their ship.

Orca stood on the beach, spear clenched tightly in his fist. He looked like he wanted hurl his spear far off into the distance, to pierce the bird right through the heart. Belle-Sue helped to clean Link's face and hair of blood, since his Grandma had fainted after seeing the giant bird abduct her darling granddaughter.

Throughout this entire commotion of mixed voices filled with concern and questions of what action should be taken, Link was silent. He said nothing, lost in the tumult of feelings inside of him. He was shocked that the bird had taken his sister, sad that she was gone, and furious as well as ashamed of himself for letting it happen. Even though Sky said more than once to the mute boy that there had been nothing that he could've done, Link still felt that he was to blame for his sister's abduction. Part of him was convinced that this wasn't real, that it couldn't be real. He should just curl up in a corner somewhere and wait until everything made sense again. The other part was screaming at himself to do something about it instead of sitting here like a moron while his sister was being carried farther and farther away by some ridiculous-looking bird.

Finally, after he convinced himself that this was in fact reality, and that it wasn't going to change anytime soon, he decided that this was his fault, and he had to fix it. He got up and approached the pirates. The pirates called the girl Tetra often, and she seemed to be the one in charge. Normally, Link would have been excited to meet real-live pirates, but now he couldn't care less.

"Hey," he said to get Tetra's attention. The girl glanced his way with an annoyed expression.

"Oh, you. What do you want?"

Link wasn't usually aggressive, but something about her irked him. "You're going after that bird, right? Take me with you."

That made Tetra pay attention. Her eyebrows shot up and her dubious look only made Link even more determined to give chase to the bird.

"What?! You want to come with us on our ship?" A tough-looking pirate in a green shirt and red bandana stopped what he was doing and came over to Tetra, dismissing Link as a runt on sight.

Link nodded. A voice in the back of his mind told him this was a really bad idea, but he told that voice to shut up. Sky said nothing, but he was proud of Link. He had taken the initiative to combat the evil that existed in this world, disregarding his own safety, a sure sign of a hero.

"Do you understand what you're asking? We're pirates! You know…PIRATES! The terror of the seas!" Yes, this girl was really starting to annoy Link. The fury he was feeling against himself as well as at that horrendous bird leaked out of him a little.

"If you're such terrors then why did that bird catch you in the first place?!" he snapped.

Tetra blinked in surprise. He looked like he wanted to punch something. His green eyes were dark and his fists were clenched. No one seemed to notice, but the wind had died down. Link leaned in until his face was close with hers. The green pirate tensed, ready to grab the kid and fling him into the Sea.

"That…._thing_ took my _sister_," Link growled darkly. It was the angriest he had ever been in a long time. He was going to get her back, and these pirates were going to take him with them whether they wanted to or not.

Tetra took a step back. This kid was crazy. "I know how you must feel with your sister having been kidnapped and all…," she said slowly, "But that doesn't really have anything to do with us, does it?"

"And how do you figure that…?" a new voice asked.

Link turned to see Quill, the Rito postman. Link was familiar with the winged man; oftentimes, when Quill delivered the mail, Link would be waiting beside the postbox to pester him about all the islands he visited on his travels. Quill tolerated him, and was in fact amused with the youth's curiosity. He did indeed have many stories to tell, being one of the few Rito powerful enough to endure extended flights across the Great Sea. He never stayed for long, though-there was always mail to be delivered.

But today was an exception.

He told the pirate, as calmly as he could, that it was indeed her fault that Link's sister had been kidnapped. If the bird had not come to the island, it would have never mistaken Aryll for Tetra, and she would have never been taken in the first place. A look of guilt from the pirate girl let him know that his words were having an effect on her.

With a serious expression that rarely left his face, Quill related to the pirates, after quelling several of their interruptions, of the rumors he had heard of mysterious kidnappings of young girls with long ears all over the Great Sea. The red bird listened to the man attentively. As a spirit guide, he believed it was his job to help remind Link about objectives or important pieces of information.

When Quill mentioned that the bird made its nest in the island known as the Forsaken Fortress, Tetra visibly paled.

"The Forsaken Fortress?! Isn't that the place where…" Her voice trailed off into silence, leaving Quill open to demand, "So, what are you going to do? Under the circumstances, I don't think it would be unreasonable for you to give Link a little help, now, would it?"

Tetra flushed and that trademark annoyed look returned to her face. After snapping at Link a little more, she finally relented that she would let Link on board if he found himself a shield to protect himself with. Link took the abuse, trying not to undermine the postman's hard work. He thanked the postman, who only wished for his safety in this endeavor, and walked off.

"I like him," Sky said as he followed after Link.

Link said nothing. Most of his anger had drained away, leaving him full of guilt. The fact that the only shield he knew of on the island was in his house, where his Grandma was, just made it worse.

On his way home, Orca called to him and beckoned him to come over. Numbly, Link obeyed. The old swordsman's face was obscured by the shadows cast by his wooden awning. Orca was silent for a bit before saying, "…I'm sorry, Link. I did not take you seriously when you told me of the bird. And now-" He abruptly lapsed into silence and had to clear his throat before he could go on. This was possibly the most emotional Link had ever seen him.

"I wish I could do more to help. If I could _move_," he growled with such vehemence, glaring at the old wound in his leg that prevented him from ever being able to engage in serious combat ever again, "I would go rescue Aryll, instead of you." He sighed heavily. "As it stands, I can only offer you this."

Orca held out a faded brown button-up and opened it. It was a small pouch, so Link gasped when he reached in and pulled out an entire fishing spear. And then another. And then another! Orca set the spears against the wall of his house and gave the pouch to Link, who held it reverently.

"I found that while Sturgeon and I were travelling," he said quietly. "You can fill it with many things, and it will only become full after much stuffing. I hope it helps you on your journeys."

Sky inspected the pouch with amusement. Yes, he most certainly recognized it.

Link thanked him repeatedly until Orca held up a hand to silence him. Suddenly, he looked much older and sadder and more tired than ever. "The elders wished only for the youths to know courage like the hero of legend," he said, quoting the legend of the hero. Sky perked up at this, staring intently at Orca, but he said no more on the subject. His last words were "Keep the sword. You'll need it. I only wish I had more time to train you.", which were accompanied by a fond ruffling of Link's hair before the boy set off for his house again, clutching the pouch and wondering why his eyes stung.

He grasped the doorknob and hesitated for a second before opening it.

Inside his house, Grandma was holding the shield in her hands, almost cradling it. She looked up with sorrowful eyes when Link approached her, guilt gnawing at his soul.

"Link…is this what you're looking for?" She held up their family shield, which had hung on the wall for as long as Link could remember. He recalled rainy days when Aryll used to drag him out of bed and make him play 'Hero versus ancient Evil' with her for hours, all under the gaze of that shield.

Link nodded, too scared to use his voice. Grandma looked at the shield for a little while longer before holding it out to her grandson. "…Take it."

As Link strapped it to his back, Grandma began cleaning some of the remaining blood from his hair. As she worked with trembling fingers, she began to talk. "I guess it is true. Aryll really has been kidnapped…when I first heard it from Orca, I thought it was just a dream…"

Link was silent. A lump had formed in his throat and his eyes stung. Then he heard his Grandma begin to sob, and she threw her arms around him. "What kind of monster would take such a sweet, young child?" she said between sobs. Tears dampened Link's shoulders. A few wet Grandma's shirt, as well. Link wrapped his arms around his beloved Grandma, letting some tears escape his eyes.

"I'm going to get her back, Grandma," Link finally forced out. "I promise."

Grandma backed away and pulled out a handkerchief to wipe her eyes. Link reluctantly turned to go, but Grandma motioned for him to wait.

"I can't send my grandson out to save my granddaughter without helping him," she said with a shaky voice. "Be a good…," here her voice failed for a second, "Be a good grandson and help your Grandma lift this door."

She shuffled towards her chair next to the fireplace and removed the rug that lay there. To Link's mild surprise a trapdoor lay underneath. Obediently, Link dug his fingernails under the edge of the trapdoor and heaved. The door was thick and had not been opened in a long time, so Link had to use every bit of muscle he had ever gained from lifting rocks and pigs to raise the door and hold it there while his Grandma walked down into the dark pit that was their musty cellar.

Who knew they had a cellar?

As he waited for his Grandma to ascend from the darkness, Link turned his thoughts to Aryll. What did the bird do once it had captured little girls? Did it eat them? Feed them to its chicks? He remembered sneaking up to a seagull's nest with Aryll once and recalled how the seagull had actually chewed up its food and regurgitated it for…ugh, he couldn't bear to think of Aryll in that situation! Guilt stabbed at him again and again, standing alone in his house, propping up a door for his sobbing Grandma. He glanced at the pictures on the wall. There was the time Aryll had been picking flowers, and there was Aryll playing with the seagulls.

It suddenly hit Link that he might not see these pictures for a very long time. He would not see any of this for a very long time.

Link tried to swallow, but failed.

Finally, Grandma returned, holding something in her hand. "Link…I can't do much for you, and that really hurts me…," she said weakly. Her eyes were red and puffy. She took a shuddering breath and continued. "But I can at least make sure you'll always have the money to eat well." She held out the object in her hand, and Link nearly fell to the floor in shock. An orange rupee! An entire. Orange. Rupee!

THAT WAS WORTH ONE HUNDRED GREEN ONES.

It was Grandma's life savings. Now, it was Link's. Holding the gleaming orange rupee, Link understood the brevity of the situation and Grandma's fear of never seeing either of her grandchildren ever again.

Suddenly, it felt like the rupee weighed more than the entire island.

Outside of the house, Sky waited for Link. He knew when to give the poor boy a private moment. He had turned so that his back was to the window, and was now absentmindedly looking across the island.

_Is he really ready to fight that monster?_ Sky thought. The reaction he had had to Bokoblins was bad enough, and he had been more lucky than skillful in that fight—though Sky would never say that out loud. He sighed, feeling the wind beginning to pick up again, ruffling his feathers.

Something caught his eye up on the cliff. Something was…forming. It was small, impossible to see from the beach…without sharp bird eyes, that is. Sky could see a grayish-brown shape being created out of thin air, now resembling some sort of…

The thing turned its head to look right at Sky, then proceeded to cross the bridge, headed for what Sky immediately knew to be Link.

"Strange," Sky noted.


	5. Blunt

Author's Note Time! Before you guys go "WHAT?! 1,257 WORDS?! DARKSIMORRRRGH!" please hear me out! This was supposed to be together with the next chapter, but then I realized that it was huge, so I had to cut it off somewhere, and this was the only place I could think of. I can post chapter 5 as early as this Thursday if you want, but you guys will have to tell me so. Anyways, new character introduced this chapter! I imagined him as this kind of grouchy guy with a heart of gold. We'll see how that develops. Please R&R!

Existence for him was now a giant blur, the melding of past memories, of time spent drifting through a hazy sea of energy, a numb existence that only faintly echoed what it was like to be alive. There was warmth coming from this…soup that he was always drifting through, and sometimes he sensed that there were others like him hidden amongst the haze and mist. Sometimes he was bored, sometimes not. It wasn't too bad of an afterlife.

There was no way to keep track of the passage of time here, but he knew it had been quite a while since he had seen anything like this. A small bubble, with a clear image inside of it, floated amidst the haze. Peering into its depths, he saw a red funny-looking bird. Beside it was a young boy with blond hair, dark blue eyes, and a bloodied green tunic. Anger and sorrow were etched on to his face.

He was curious; who was this boy? What was he so upset? That expression reminded him of the fury he himself had felt at times; the sorrow was familiar as well—this boy had failed to protect someone that had been dear to him.

And how had he been suckered into becoming the next Hero?

He gazed deeper and deeper into the bubble, until the image swelled. The blue sky stretched out before him and grass came into reality under his feet.

He had feet.

He realized that he was back again, in the world of the living. The grass was soft, and the air carried with it such a salty tang that it made him sneeze. The fresh wind felt like it was welcoming him back into the world, though it was not a world he was familiar with. He looked around until his eye caught sight of a splash of red far below the cliff he himself was on. Where that bird was, the boy was, also. He wasn't sure how he knew this, but he began his trek down the cliff anyway. A sense of urgency made him walk at a quick pace, and a wolfish smile spread across his face.

It was good to be back.

_BRRAAAANGGG!_

_BRRAAAANGGG!_

The sound of the gong rang in Link's ears. The sails were unfurled, the southern wind immediately filling them, and the ship lurched forward. The pirate ship had set sail.

The entire island community had gathered on the beach to wave Link off. That is to say, all nine people were there.

"Good luck Link!" they cried. "Good luck finding Aryll! Take care of yourself!"

Link couldn't help but feel sad; these people had been his entire life. He might not see them ever again. Sturgeon had given him a copy of the legend he had been supposed to study, hoping that it might come in handy (though Link thought this was very unlikely). Orca had told Link to be strong. Little Joel had even offered Link his stick. It was with a heavy heart that Link bid them farewell.

From their house, Link could see his grandma watching the ship depart. Biting his lip, he waved both of his arms back and forth to make sure one of the people he loved most in the world could see him, one last time.

"Ugh…How much longer is this going to go on, do you think?" Tetra asked from behind him. Link turned to glare at her. Sky grimaced, though it was hard to tell. Tetra put her arms behind her head and leaning back, staring up at the clouds nonchalantly. "Are you sure you shouldn't just quit right now? Seriously, think about it. I can tell you're just going to get more sentimental from here on out." Before Link could say something, she sauntered off.

"Well," Sky said, and nothing more. Link turned sharply back to look at his homeland. Outset Island was quickly shrinking as they sailed farther and farther away. Link already missed it.

"Hey!"

The voice was faint, coming from the direction of the island. Link frowned, trying to locate the owner of the voice. It sounded angry.

"Hey stop slow down I SAID SLOW DOWN!"

A grayish-brown creature was racing towards the ship. It was unlike any animal Link had ever seen: a long snout, pointed ears, a stocky build, four long limbs, and a bushy tail. And it was talking.

"WHAT THE HELL!" the creature yelled and dove off of the dock and into the Sea.

The creature seemed to be very determined to get to the ship; it was paddling as hard as it could, but the ship was picking up speed. The creature started cursing, saying words that either Link had never heard before or had had to eat soap for saying. He looked around at the pirates to see how they reacted to this, but no one seemed to care.

"Uh-oh," Sky said. He spread his wings and took to the sky, angling towards the animal that was so frantically trying to chase the ship down. Hovering over the animal, he grabbed it with his talons and with great exertion, started flying back to the ship with the animal in his talons. Privately, Link urged the ship to go a little faster.

Sky collapsed on to the ship alongside his cargo. Exhausted, his wheezing sounded like half-bird cries. The other animal—about as tall as Link's waist—got up and shook itself off, growling. "I forgot how annoying it is to swim as a wolf…"

So it was a wolf. That didn't clarify anything at all.

The wolf looked at Link with clear blue eyes. "Hey."

"Uh, hi."

The wolf looked around the ship, sniffing the air. Link groaned inwardly, wondering why there was another talking animal following him around now. He wanted to touch the furry thing, to see if it was real, but he had a vague feeling that the wolf would bite his hand off.

"So uh, any reason why I'm here?" the wolf asked as it began to scratch its ear. Link looked at Sky for an answer. He had no idea why _either _of them were here!

Sky, still weary, only lifted his head to look at the wolf with mild confusion. "You don't know why you're here?"

The wolf shrugged. "Not really." If a bird could look surprised, then Sky definitely was.

"Er, I'm pretty sure you're meant to guide the hero," Sky said, nodding at Link. Link didn't even bother denying the bird's ludicrous claim. The wolf froze, rear paw lifted in mid-scratch.

"Am I really," it said.

"I'm afraid so," Sky said rather dryly.

The wolf let out a deep, growly huff. "Well that's just great."

He-for its voice was quite masculine-brooded for about thirty seconds, after which he shrugged and resumed scratching his ear and talking at the same time. "Meh. Beats floating around forever. So, what's your problem? You look like…" Here he paused. "You look like something bad happened to someone you care about."

"Hey, kid!" Link heard Tetra yelling at him from the other side of the ship. Maybe she couldn't see his glare from all the way over there. "You'll just be in the way if you say on the deck!" she continued to yell. "Find Niko below. He'll give you some work to do." With that, she turned her back on him and stared off into the horizon.

"Wow. Bitch," the wolf said flatly. Link didn't know what that meant, but he agreed with it.


	6. Pirates and Ghosts

Author's Note: Early update! I do not like the pirate ship. I do not like it with a fox, I do not like it on a box. I have looked over this chapter so many times that the words have stopped registering in my brain. I hope you like 5,089 words! Thank you very much for reading, and please review! Now excuse me while I listen to the pirate's theme and try to squeeze some more words out of my dumb brain.

Link clambered down on to the main deck and told the wolf what had happened as he went down into the depths of the ship. All the wolf could say was, "That sucks."

It was stuffy down here amongst the barrels and pots and moths and lanterns. The colored wood that the entire ship was made of gave everything a reddish tone. Link found himself backtracking, going in circles, and getting slightly seasick as he stumbled through the many hallways and doors (the biggest ship he had ever been on before was Beedle's Shop Ship). He didn't even know who this Niko guy was!

When he finally did find Niko, Link was immediately deemed the bottom of the pirate pecking order and given the title of "Swabbie". Link didn't mind this as much as having to call the mousey-looking Niko "Superior". Deep inside, he was even a little excited to be part of a pirate crew and to do pirate things.

"Now, I promise I'll go easy on you so you do as I say, OK?" Niko sounded elated to not be the lowest ranking pirate anymore. Link decided to just go with it, so he nodded.

"Right! Now, first off, you have to take the test all new pirates have to take. It's a bit of a doozy, so get ready! You watch everything I'm about to show you real careful-like so you can cram it into your no doubt mushy swabbie brain!" He rapped his knuckles on Link's head for emphasis (he had previously stated that abusing lower ranking members was one of the perks of being a superior).

Sky and the wolf settled down in the corner to see how this was going to turn out.

It did not turn out well.

The test was composed of several platforms that were raised up from the bottom of the floor in response to a switch on one side of the room ("Why the hell do they have an entire room for this."). Link was tasked with jumping from platform to platform until he reached the other side of the room, where Niko was. However, the platforms only stayed up for a short period of time. To make it even worse, some platforms were impossible to reach without some sort of assistance. This is where the lanterns came in. Lanterns attached to long ropes dangled from the ceiling, designed so that Link could grab on to one and swing to another platform ("I wonder where all these moths are coming from? We're in the middle of the Sea.").

Link had never swung on lanterns before. He had never even been on a ship of this magnitude, and was still developing his sea legs.

He missed the rope and fell.

His grip slipped and he fell.

He overshot the platform and fell.

Each time he fell, he had to push himself up, climb up back up to the switch, raise the platforms, and try again. He was going to do this, by Din, or he would die trying.

Sky and the wolf watched every attempt, and winced at every failure.

"This is ridiculous," the wolf said as a battered Link trudged past him to make a fifteenth attempt. "Hey Link! Go tell that guy this is stupid."

"Shh!" Sky said to the wolf. "There has to be a reason he's doing this."

"Really? Because I don't see one," the wolf growled. He got up, his fur bristling and his tail stock still.

"What are you doing?" Sky said a little sharply.

"Riding a goat. I'm going to help the kid what the hell do you think I'm doing?" Admittedly, the wolf had no clue what exactly he was going to do. Bite the tiny pirate, maybe? Yeah, that's good, that's good. Biting things solved a lot of his problems.

As soon as he took a step forward, there was a flurry of red feathers and the wolf was forced on to the floor, a golden claw pressed hard against his face.

"We do not interfere with the hero's adventure," Sky said tightly. The wolf was a little surprised that the bird who had been so calm seconds before could turn into something this aggressive. That didn't keep him from struggling, though. His claws scrabbled at the wooden floor and his jaws tried to snap at the bird.

"Get the hell off me!"

"We do not interfere," he repeated. His polished eyes were hard and flat.

"Who died and made you king?"

Sky flinched before pressing his claw deeper into wolf flesh. "We. Do. Not. Interfere."

The wolf knew that tone. He stopped moving and glowered at the floor. It was the tone of someone whose carefully crafted calm was this close to breaking. He had used that tone a lot, too.

Finally, the bird released his grip and nestled back into the corner, ignoring the murderous looks from the wolf.

Link noticed none of this. His hands stung and his arms ached and his butt hurt but he kept going. The farthest he got was the second platform. Once. But, apparently, that was a huge milestone. Niko had suggested that he quit while he was ahead. Or did he say quit before he was dead?

Twenty-two attempts later and Link had hit his limit. He simply lay on the floor and refused to move. Niko burst out laughing.

"It'll probably take you at least one year before you're good enough to make it all the way here," he said with a chuckle. "One rough year. One tough year, full of bumps and bruises." He did not hear the words the wolf threw his way.

_A year?!_ Link thought, _How long does it take to get to the Forsaken Fortress?!_

A gong rang somewhere upstairs. Niko grinned and jumped down to where Link was. "Come on, Swabbie! That's the dinner bell. You don't want to be late for that, do you?"

He grabbed Link and hoisted him up. When he was sure that Link could stand on his own, Niko patted him on the head and scampered off. Link watched him go, unmoving. He was still standing like that when Sky and the wolf came down.

"Link, are you okay?" Sky asked. He craned his neck to inspect Link as well as he could. Link just mumbled, "Tired." The wolf snorted and looked away. He pretended not to notice Link's hands, bloodied from repeated rope burn.

"Well now you have food to look forward to, so come on!" Sky said with false cheer. He could tell that the boy was sore all over. He flew up to the top of the ladder and looked at Link encouragingly.

Link instead looked down as his feet. He was pretty sure they had stopped functioning. To his surprise, they actually moved, almost out of their own accord. Left, right, left, right….okay, now up the ladder. Right hand, left foot. Left hand, right foot.

Sky watched with quiet amusement as the wolf followed right behind Link, ready to give him a push whenever he stopped. Even though it appeared that this was his first time being a spirit guide, he wasn't doing that bad of a job. Now, if only he could hold back his temper…

When Link had made it up the ladder, the wolf was left down below. He furrowed his brow. Sky sighed and went down to fetch him. When he set the wolf down, he thought he heard him grumble a thank you, though it might have just been Link's growling stomach. The wolf bolted from Sky as soon as they landed, and shook out its coat in an effort to get the feel of Sky's claws out of his skin. Sky just ignored him.

He looked up to see Link standing in front of the exit, who then turned around with a troubled look on his face. "Uh. Which way is the food."

"Wait. I got this." The wolf ran up to Link. "Open the door," he commanded. Link obeyed, almost hitting the wolf with it. The wolf, distracted by the thought of food, didn't mind. He ran out into the hallway and started to sniff around. His tail began to wag and he jerked his head to the right. Link and Sky followed the bounding wolf through the maze of halls and stairs, sometimes fighting to keep him in view. Link stumbled occasionally, but hunger drove him forever forward. He himself didn't smell anything, but who knows. Maybe a wolf's nose was just as good as a pig's.

Eventually, they came to a large wooden door at the end of a long hallway. The wolf reared up and began scratching at the door impatiently, nose plastered against the wood in an effort to inhale as much of the aroma as he could. Sky tried not to laugh. He knew what it was like to have your senses back after years of a numb existence. It was only from repeated exposure that he himself had grown accustomed to how hard everything in life seemed to hit you upon your return.

"Ugh gods I smell meat!" the wolf slavered.

Even Link could smell the tantalizing aroma of a hearty stew from behind the heavyset door. The wolf seemed to be working himself into a frenzy, drool decorating his maw. Link glanced at Sky, but the bird seemed to be in perfect control of himself. He returned Link's look with his permanent smile and extended his wing toward the door, as if to say, "Go on."

Link nudged the wolf off of the door with his foot so that he could get at the dirty, well-worn doorknob. It turned easily enough, but Link had to strain himself to pull it open. The smells rushed into his face, causing him to inhale deeply before walking inside.

For a crew of seven, the pirates were making a lot of noise. There were slurps and belches, loud guffaws and quiet chuckles. There was the clattering of wooden cutlery and the pounding of feet upon the floorboards and the thuds of things battering the big oaken table in the center of the room. It was a relatively small room, though it felt more cozy than claustrophobic. Aside from the table filled with pirates, several barrels stood in the corner, and another door, supposedly leading to the kitchen, was on the left wall.

The wolf had bolted in as soon as Link had managed to reveal enough space for him to squirm through. He headed straight for a large metal pot in the center of the table. He had already placed his forepaws on the bench and had been about to clamber up when, with a small gust of wind announcing his arrival, Sky had deftly landed on the bench with stern eyes directed toward the wolf.

The wolf snarled at him, but the bird was unfazed. When the wolf got too aggressive, Sky let out a huff of mild annoyance. He lifted his huge claw towards the wolf's face and paused. The wolf glared at it warily, unwilling to revisit his previous experience with Sky's feet, albeit Sky looked much calmer this time.

Sky's look said, "Are you finished?"

The wolf's sullen posture said, "Yeah, yeah." But his eyes said, "Do that again and I will bite your foot clean off."

Link had been standing in the doorway, watching this entire thing unfold. Niko had noticed him by this time, and called him over.

"Hoy, swabbie! Took you long enough to get here. Hurry up and grab a seat 'afore the food's all gone!" He gestured to a spot at the very end of the bench across from him where half of Link's butt could fit comfortably.

The fatigue lightened a little as Link took his awkward spot at the far end of the table. Should he have been offended that they had all but finished eating by the time he had just sat down? He noted how all the cramped crew seemed to be sitting in hierarchical order, with the green pirate from before at the opposite end of Link's bench. Tetra herself sat aaall the way over there at the head of the table. In her own chair. Which she didn't have to share with anyone else.

Everyone except a guy Link later found out was named Zuko was involved in one engaging and often hilarious conversation or the other. Even Tetra's hard outer shell showed signs of cracking as she laughed at something the green pirate said.

"Here ya go. Not much left, so eat up!" Niko slammed a bowl of hot, meaty stew in front of Link, along with a small piece of crusty bread.

Link was starving. He hadn't gotten to eat anything all day, not even his birthday soup. Spoon in hand, he was about to dig in when he noticed something off about his dinner. He looked at the other pirates' dinners, then at his, then at their dinners, then back at his.

"My bowl is half the size of yours!" he cried. Niko just shrugged. A guy beside Link sniggered and adjusted the giant pair of glasses on his face. "Them's the breaks, kid. You didn't pass the test. Pass, and you'll get to eat like a real pirate."

Outrage spread throughout Link's body and he turned to the glasses guy to…what? Shove the spoon up his nose? Possibly, but glasses guy had already begun to talk to Niko so Link just ate his stew and brooded. It was a really good stew, though.

"Speaking of the test," Glasses said, "How's the runt doing so far?"

Niko folded his arms and tried to look surly. "Well Mako, not bad for a first day. Not good, either! You should've seem him, slipping and tumbling all over like a-"

This was the point where Link stopped listening and focused on his stew. It warmed his belly and made him a little drowsy. His tentative request for a second helping was granted, though Tetra assured him that that would not always be the case. He spooned the delicious food into his mouth. It wasn't one of Grandma's famous soups, but gosh if the carrots and the potatoes didn't make it taste good!

His eyes wandered away from the meal and he saw the wolf looking up at him from beside the bench. The animal looked so pathetic and sad that for a second Link forgot the he was indeed a very angry wolf who said a lot of very bad words.

"Are you hungry?" Link asked in the lowest voice he could manage.

Sky extended a wing to interrupt the wolf and said, "Don't mind us. It's not necessary that we eat. It seems that you'll need all the strength that you can get."

The wolf ducked under Sky's wing and growled up at Link, "Speak for yourself, birdbrain. I'm frikkin' starving!"

Link looked at the remains of his stew, then scanned the table to make sure everyone was too busy talking to notice him doing anything weird. He quickly grabbed his bowl and moved it to the floor. When Niko glanced his way, Link pretended that he had bent down to pick up his spoon.

The wolf set upon the stew the instant it touched the floor. Link was glad the pirates couldn't hear the wolf's exclamations as he ate his fill.

"Oh goddesses carrots? That's-arm narm-awesome. This meat tastes so good."

Sky eyed the beast with great disapproval, his head titled downward and his grin somewhat lessened. However, he did not refuse when Link offered him the last of his bread. He thanked Link graciously and downed it in one large gulp. The wolf was still noisily slurping away, pausing every now and then to come up for air.

With nothing to distract him now, Link turned back into Niko and Mako's conversation. They were still talking about how bad Link was at the rope-swinging test.

"…could take a year, maybe two for him to pass," Niko finished.

The same fear that had gripped Link when he first heard this returned and he blurted out, "It won't take a year to get to the Forsaken Fortress, will it?"

Mako looked at him like he was a nosy child butting in on an adult conversation. "A year? Probably not. More like a month."

"A month," Link repeated. Sky stiffened, but the wolf was too busy polishing off the last of the stew to notice.

"With a shove of his glasses, Mako added, "Maybe two. The wind was great when we started out, but it's beginning to change into a northerner now."

"And that's bad," Niko stated in conclusion. Link's stomach plummeted. An entire month. Maybe two. Could Aryll survive that long?

"And that's not even the worst part. The Forsaken Fortress has another name, you know: Hell on the High Seas." Make scratched his perfectly smooth chin.

"Honestly, swabbie, I don't get why you're even going there. All you're going to do is get you and your sister killed, if she isn't already dead." Mako coughed to get Niko's attention. He jerked his head at the kid, and Niko's voice died as he saw the boy staring hard at the table. The noise at their end of the table slid into an awkward silence.

Link wasn't sure what he was supposed to think or say or feel. Aryll…already dead? Sky regarded him carefully.

Niko cleared his throat louder than necessary. "So uh, you done eating? Then I should show you where you're going to sleep, yeah?" The youth shrugged.

Something to note about the squirrely pirate: the more uncomfortable he was, the more hyperactive he became. Right now, he was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet. "C'mon, swabbie!" His bouncing ceased for a split second when he noted with mild confusion that Link's empty bowl was sitting on the floor, not seeing the wolf that was nosing it mournfully. Buuuut since tonight wasn't his turn for dishwashing duty, he paid it no mind and resumed his nervous movement.

The two lowest ranking pirates traversed the halls of the ship, one with well-developed sea legs and the other stumbling as he went. It was so warm down here…it made Link a little sleepy. The wolf trotted beside him, yawning on occasion. Sky tried to fly at first, but the low ceilings didn't bode well for him and he settled for walking at a quick pace.

After what felt like an hour but was actually only ten minutes, Niko stopped in the middle of a well-lit hallway. "These here are the sleeping quarters," he announced. He pushed open the door, and Link was slammed nose-first with the smell of men cooped up in small bunks in a cramped, windowless room with a bunch of other guys that farted, burped, snored, and refused to shower.

It was enough to make Link's eyes water. The wolf gagged.

"It's where the real pirates sleep," Niko said proudly, scrawny chest swelled to maximum capacity. Link, who was breathing through his mouth, did not miss the emphasis on the word "real".

"I'm not going to sleep here." It was a statement, not a question.

"You bet your weird green…triangle hat thing you aren't! I said _real_ pirates, didn't I?" the _real_ pirate crowed. He searched Link's face for any signs of despair, but Link's efforts to veil his relief with a blank expression left Niko a tad disappointed.

"Well anyways, I guess I should show you where you do sleep."

They backtracked for seven minutes and then took a left where they had once turned right and Link wound up staring at a much narrower door in a lonesome hallway that didn't even have its own lantern.

"This is where all the swabbies sleep." Niko sniffed and rubbed his nose. "Slept here myself once. Hated every minute of it. I bet you will, too!" He patted the door fondly, then turned to slap Link across the back. It wasn't as strong as Niko would have liked, and Link only looked at him with confusion.

"…right. You should get some shut-eye. Tomorrow you're going to find out just how hard it is to be a swabbie!"

Niko eyed Link expectantly. Link stared back for a bit before realizing. "Oh. Er, aye-aye, superior Niko."

Niko nodded approvingly. "Good swabbie." He walked off. The wolf growled.

The door put up a good fight. Even the ship itself seemed to be getting into the spite-the-swabbie spirit. When Link did get it open, he was greeted with the sight of an even more cramped room and the smell of mildew and musty clothes. A mop and a broom stood sentinel in one corner, along with their best friend, the rusty bucket. A box of cheap soap was in the other corner, and a washboard rested in a large wood bucket in the center of the room. A thin, dirty padded mattress lay crumpled up against the back wall.

"A storage closet," Sky said flatly. He lifted his wing and covered his face.

The wolf slinked in, sniffed around, and quickly slinked back out. "That place is tiny!"

Link ignored the both of them and ran into the closet, standing on the mattress to get at the porthole on the far wall. His fingers scrabbled at the rusted metal, desperate to find the latch which separated him from the Sea. It was only after his fingers had gone numb that the porthole swung open and bonked Link on the forehead. He didn't care. He stuck his head out and gulped fresh sea air. The salty tang was welcoming and the sounds of the waves were like old friends. And the _wind_. Link had only been in the stuffy ship for half a day and the lack of a breeze had already driven him half-mad. The night wind was cool against his face as it journeyed across the Sea. Also: this ship was obnoxiously huge. The sea spray rose tantalizingly close, but always out of his reach. Oh well. At least he could just enjoy the moment.

Link spent a long time in this position: on his tip-toes, gripping the edges of the porthole, head stuck out into the night, watching the stars in the sky that seemed to blaze even brighter now that he was so far away from home. There was a quarter moon in the sky, and a single puff of cloud drifted across the dark blue ceiling.

Seeing this one cloud, Link was flooded with a sudden surge of loneliness. Here he was, in the middle of the Sea, surround by pirates who were determined to make this month as hellish as possible, on a mission to rescue his sister, who could already be…

His throat closed. Turning around, he saw that Sky was perched on the wooden bucket and the wolf was cautiously nosing around the roo-…closet.

Maybe…he wasn't so alone. These two things kept following him and the bird seemed nice enough, at least. He'd have their company, at least until they realized he wasn't the hero. With Sky's delusional conviction though, who knew when that would be?

Link wedged the porthole so that a breath of fresh air could get in even though it was relatively closed before he spread the smelly mattress on the floor. He moved as if to close the door, but then the wolf lifted his head, hackles rising, and said, "_Don't_."

So Link left it open.

He set his sword, shield, and pouch aside and then he lay on the mattress that seemed to emphasize every irregularity in the floor. He closed his eyes. No amount of tossing and turning could possibly make this thing even vaguely comfortable, so much different from the only other bed he'd ever slept in. That one was nice and comfy, and warm…

Link's eyes snapped open and he groaned softly. It was like he was so tired, he couldn't sleep. Was it the constant rocking of the ship, or the smell of this closet? Maybe it was because it was so small that Link could barely like down without scraping his head against the opposite wall.

Whatever it was, sleep evaded him. He needed to do something. He needed to talk.

Rolling on to his stomach, Link peeked around the closet from underneath his long bangs. Sky had made a home for himself in the bucket, feathers fluffed and head nestled along his back, but he wasn't sleeping. He was staring at the tiny piece of sky the porthole offered him, and it looked like he was thinking pretty hard. Link didn't want to bother him. His gaze slid to the wolf, which was pacing the entrance. His paws made soft padding noises each time he moved. Sometimes, he would stop to snort and shake his head like he was trying to get something out of his nose.

"Hey, Mr. Wolf?" Link asked tentatively.

The wolf's eyes flicked up from the floor to meet Link's before dropping down again. The wolf continued to pace. "What." _Pad, pad, pad, pad_.

"Do you…," the boy paused. "Do you have a name?"

The wolf stopped pacing and gave him a dubious look.

"What do _you_ think my name is?" The question sounded rhetorical, but Link had no idea what it could be. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, hoping it would help him think.

"Um…" His forehead wrinkled and his cheeks puffed out. He rocked back and forth, wracking his brain for a name. Finally:

"…Billy?"

Dead silence. The wolf just stared at him, stock still. "Yes," he said in a deadpan manner. "My name is Billy."

Sky tried not to roll his eyes. "His name is Link."

"Nope it's Billy."

Sky ignored him.

"My name is Link, as well. I just asked you to call me Sky so that we could avoid any confusion."

"He's lying." The wolf leaned toward Link conspiratorially. "His name is actually Steve."

Link didn't know what to think. What were the chances that all three of them were named Link? Was the name cursed so that all Links turned into talking animals in their late teens? He tried to imagine the rest of his life as a pig, invisible to everyone not named Link. Oh dear gods.

"All heroes are named Link," Sky said.

It took a second for Link to grasp the implications. He pointed a finger at Sky, then at the wolf.

"So you're…"

"Yup. Heroes." The wolf didn't exactly say the word with reverence.

"Dead heroes," Sky offered. "We came back as spirit guides to help future heroes, such as yourself." As if unsure that this was a satisfactory explanation, he hastily added, "We were humans when we were alive. It's just that the goddesses thought that these forms would be more…convenient." He stretched out his wings and flapped them a bit before returning them to his sides. He didn't meet Link's eye the entire time he was speaking.

A brief span of quiet, then:

"But…my name is Link." His finger slowly turned until he was pointing at himself. His brow furrowed. "Except…I'm not a hero."

The wolf snorted. He resumed his restless pacing.

"You will be," Sky said gently, but Link just shook his head.

"I'm not a hero," he repeated. "All I'm doing is saving my sister, not the world. Then we're gonna go home." _To Outset. Where Grandma will be too scared to ever let me leave,_ he added mentally.

Seeing how Sky and the wolf remained unconvinced, Link continued, "And heroes are always killing monsters and stuff. I…" He swallowed. "I don't want to do that."

The wolf's dark blue eyes seemed to bore into Link. He flicked his ear as if he was trying to swat an irritating fly. "And what makes you think that big-ass bird is going to let you just waltz in and get your sister." His questions were more like demands than anything.

Link hadn't thought ahead that far. That bird _was_ pretty huge. He reached for his sword and examined it. The sheathed blade looked so small in the dim light of the moon. There was more of a chance that the bird would end Link before Link ended the bird with this metal toothpick.

"I'll just wait until it goes away and then I'll get Aryll out and then we'll go home." The answer sounded hollow even to him. The sword felt heavy in his hands.

"Well, we'll see when we get there," Sky sighed. "In the meantime, you should get some sleep." He sounded tired, and a little sad. It reminded Link of Orca.

The boy nodded. He carefully placed the sword back in its place, silently hoping that he would never have to use it again. His eyes passed over his pouch, and he couldn't help but think of the shiny, red telescope in it that he was only supposed to keep for one day. He'd have to keep it a little longer before he could return it to Aryll.

He rested his head on the mattress (might as well have been the floor, really) and closed his eyes. Amidst the swaying of the ship and the quiet of sound of the wolf's pacing, Link drifted off to sleep.

In those first few hours of sleep, he merely rose and sank through different levels of consciousness, sometimes numb darkness and other times sleepy awareness.

During these periods of half-sleep half-wakefulness, sounds in the closet around him entered his brain, snatches of noises that his groggy mind refused to wake up enough to fully comprehend.

"…so that means you're old. Really old."

"A bit."

_Pad, pad, pad, pad._

"You don't like small spaces."

Grunt.

_Pad, pad, pad_.

"You sure this kid is hero material?"

"His name is Link and he's wearing a green tunic."

"Details. He hates killing monsters. That's a big no-no. This isn't even Hyrule. At least, not mine. My Hyrule doesn't reek of salt."

Snort. Sneeze.

"He's Hylian."

"So is—_was_ everyone I know."

"Knew."

"Shut up!"

_Pad, pad_.

"Interesting."

"What." Deep growl.

"I've never seen this part of me before."

"What?"

"I believe all Links are like my reincarnations. In effect, different aspects of myself. I've never seen a Link as abrasive as you. It's interesting."

_Pad_.

"You're an arrogant bastard."

"Really? I can't tell anymore." Deep, ancient sadness.

Then the noises faded and Link was consumed by nightmares.


	7. Hero Talk

Author's Note: This chapter sets up several key events later on. Cookie if you figure out where Link is, and another one if you get why the wolf is named what he is. Both are pretty easy. Also, does anyone else find the fact that the pirates managed to traverse the entire Sea in half a day? I had to extend that a bit, even though I do not like the pirate ship. Grr. Oh, and I put up a forum for…whatever you guys want to say about this story. I'll try to answer any questions as quickly as possible. Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. I hope you enjoy this next chapter!

At first, it was just screams. His own? Maybe.

It was sort of scary, but not too bad.

Then came the images. Link watched as his sword pierced the eye of that one Bokoblin over and over, as if the memory had been set on repeat. The gelatinous material getting punctured, the spurt of blood, the look-ugh the _look_ on the Bokoblin's face…

And then it was no longer a Bokoblin, but Aryll.

Link screamed as his sister spat blood into his face. He gripped the hilt of the sword and yanked it out of her eye socket. His momentum sent him backwards into a dark void. He watched Aryll's limp body do the same, his sister's head attached to the body of a monster. Then even she was gone and Link couldn't see anything.

But he could hear. What started as the pitter-patter of small feet grew into a dull roar that engulfed him. He was slammed down on to something wet while little fists battered him repeatedly.

_Rain_, he realized. _It's rain_.

He pushed himself up and shivered slightly. He was in the midst of a vicious storm in the middle of the night. He didn't wonder how he got here. Dreams and nightmares just made sense that way.

As his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, he could begin to distinguish shapes. An irregular rectangle. Some blobs. And that shadowy figure only a short distance away. A pale sphere of light hovered in front of it, revealing a dark hand.

Link's heart stopped as the figure shouted something. The storm mangled the noise, but it sounded to Link like the cry of a Bokoblin.

He screamed and ran. He didn't know where he was going, only that he needed to run from the Aryll-monster who was chasing him. The grass was slick with rain, causing him to slip and fall several times. Each time, he got up and glanced behind him to see if he was still being chased.

He was. And it was gaining.

Lightning flashed and illuminated everything around Link, but he only processed the giant building coming up in front of him. He skidded to a stop. Or tried to. The drenched grass had no traction so he slammed into the wall.

Peeling himself off, slipping, glancing back, running.

Link made a right and then a left, which he immediately regretted. Another bolt of lightning informed him that he was surrounded by walls on three sides. A dead end.

Too late to escape. The figure was there, and beginning to advance upon him, the light gradually growing brighter. Panting, sobbing, and soaking wet, Link fell to his knees and cried openly.

Thunder roared and the rain just kept coming. The light was so close that it was blinding in contrast to the surrounding darkness. The figure stretched out a dark claw and Link could only watch in terror through half-shut eyes. He could no longer tell if the dampness on his face was rain, tears, or blood.

Then something swatted his nose.

Link's eyes flew open and he inhaled sharply. His internal clock told him it was early dawn. He let out a sigh of relief.

_Just a dream_, he thought. _I better check on Aryll to see if she kicked her blanket off ag-_And then the wolf leaned over and peered at Link with his eerily human eyes.

"You were hyperventilating," he stated. He sagely patted Link's nose with his paw. "Nightmares suck."

Everything came flooding back, almost crushing Link with its emotional weight. He rolled over on to his side and wished he hadn't—the craptastic mattress had not been a good friend to his back. A small groan escaped him as soreness spread throughout his body.

"What—no you can't go back to sleep now!" A hard head-butt against his back just made the pain worse. "The nightmares will come back."

No response.

Suddenly, weight. Link cracked open an eye and saw that the wolf had placed his upper body on the boy's shoulder. His nose was this close to Link's face. He flinched when wolf breath touched his cheek.

"This is a big boat and it moves like crazy and I am going to puke," the wolf announced.

That got him up.

"Really?" Link asked once he was scrunched up against the back wall.

The wolf yawned, revealing his pink tongue and pointed teeth, and then flopped on to the floor. "Nah. That's a waste of food. Sure got you up, though." He snickered and a wolfish smile appeared on his wolfish face.

As much of a jerk this creature was, Link couldn't help but be curious. He seemed friendly enough right now. Was it safe to ask him some questions?

Link pulled up his legs and wrapped his arms around them. He rested his chin on his knees and said, "So, um…what should I call you?"

"Billy works fine."

"Uh…okay." Pale sunlight was now peeking through the porthole, shining directly on Sky. The sleeping bird would have reminded Link of a phoenix with the way Sky's red plumage was glowing…if he knew what a phoenix was, that is.

"So…" The youngest Link in the room took a keen interest in his boots as he posed the next question. "How did you die?"

"None of your business."

"Okay," Link said meekly.

They sat like that for a while. Every now and then breaths of sea air tickled Link's face as it snuck in from the porthole.

Eventually, Billy sighed and heaved himself up into a sitting position. Link noted that he slouched. "Listen kid," Billy said. "You really think you're not the hero type?" His blue eyes didn't show any signs of irritation. If anything, there was a rueful look to his features.

"No, I really don't. I mean, exploring would be awesome-" And here Link's face lit up for a second. "-but I couldn't do the fighting." And here he hugged himself tighter.

Billy began to scratch his ear again. "Well more power to you. Wish it was just as easy as saying 'no', but these goddesses play dirty, kid. What would you say if you had to become a hero to save your sister?"

Link opened his mouth, then shut it. He couldn't think of anything.

Billy just kept scratching his ear.

"_HOY, SWABBIE!_"

Sky awoke with a very undignified squawk as Niko strode into the room.

"_TIME TO WAKE UP, YA LANDL_—oh." Niko's voice died when he saw that Link was already up. However, he did not see Sky trying to fix his disheveled feathers, nor did he see Billy, who was near-breathless with laughter.

The scrawny pirate looked at Link accusingly. "Swabbie, you sure are strange. Why would you be up this early?"

"You were going to wake me up anyway!" Link retorted.

Niko's nose twitched. "So what if I was? You're taking all the fun out of having a swabbie." He had such a disappointed expression on his face that Link felt bad—which made absolutely no sense!

Folding his arms, Niko grinned again and said, "Well what's done is done. Guess what you're going to do on your first day as a pirate?"

Link's heart started to race. He'd played Pirates enough with Aryll to build up quite the imagination about what they did. He leaped up, face aglow.

"Find buried treasure?"

"Nope."

"Make maps for buried treasure?"

"Nope."

A pause.

"…bury buried treasure?"

Niko's grin widened.

"_Cleaning_?" Link cried. "I have to _clean_?"

He stood on the main deck of the ship with his roommates Mr. Mop and Sir Rusty Bucket II.

"Yup!" Why was it that Link's suffering lightened Niko's mood? "When you're done here you can go back to your room and start on all the laundry that'll be waiting for you. And when you're done with that…you can take another crack at the lantern-swinging test." Niko chortled and walked away.

"Wait!" Link shouted. "Where are you going?!"

"Back to sleep!" Niko replied gleefully without looking back. "Do you know how early it is?"

Link's fingers wrapped around the mop handle like he was trying to strangle it. He roughly plunged the mop into the bucket and slapped it across the deck. He grimaced as he started to mop, the rough handle rubbing against his raw, pink skin.

At least the view was nice. Outset Island was only a small lump on the horizon now, and they were surrounded by the vast pearl-grey expanse of the early morning Sea. The sky was a pale blue and the sun was starting to rise high enough to illuminate the world in all of its natural glory. Even the wind was gentler in the morning, caressing Link's face.

_It's blowing the wrong way_, he noted.

"Amazing," Sky said quietly. He was perched on the railing, wings spread slightly to enjoy the breeze. Billy had been sniffing around the deck, but now returned to Link's side. He flicked his ear, a sure sign that he was annoyed.

"This is a big-ass lake," he declared. "Also," he paused and examined his paws. "I'm small. Why is that."

"If we were the original sizes of these creatures," Sky explained with the patience of a teacher stuck with a difficult student, "It might be too tempting to help Link. I myself could probably fly him to the end of dungeons. This way, we don't interfere." He lowered his head so that his large beak rested against his chest. "And this way we can't help much in battle, either," he added in a more subdued voice. His eyes slid toward the waves again.

Billy's attention shifted to Link, the look on his face saying what his mouth didn't: _That's DUMB_.

"And this is the Sea, not a lake," Link piped up, not knowing what else to add to the conversation.

"The what?"

"The Sea. It's a whole lot bigger than a lake. It's a lot saltier, too." He sloshed the mop around the deck, wincing with each movement of his hands. All of his geography knowledge came from those brief moments he paid attention during Sturgeon's lessons. _Little miracles_, Sturgeon called them.

"That's what I said. It's a big-ass lake. When are we going to get to the…uh…"

"Forsaken Fortress," Sky said.

"That." Billy tried to be nonchalant about it. "I knew that."

"Mako said a month." It was getting warmer now. Tetra should've gotten abducted a few hours sooner, before he had had to put on this stupid, sweaty tunic.

Billy lifted his head. "That's kind of far. Two weeks there and then two weeks back?"

"No." Link picked up the bucket and moved further along the deck. Billy followed; Sky didn't. The bird merely turned his head to make sure that Link was still nearby, then resumed contemplating…something. Whatever it was, only he knew, though Link suspected that it had something to do with Billy's question about size.

"A month to get _there_. Two if the wind doesn't change," Link clarified. This was ridiculous. He mopped the floor at home, sure, but this was much bigger than the cottage. Besides, Grandma would always take the mop and shoo him off because he was doing it wrong.

At first, Link wasn't sure if Billy was yawning or if his jaw had dropped. When he spoke, Link decided it was the latter. "The hell?! It takes me half that time to get from Snowpeak to Ordon. On foot. _Human_ feet."

Link shrugged and swirled the mop around. He didn't know what either of those places was and he wasn't paying much attention, anyways. He was actually trying to plan out how much he would mop in front of the door so that when Niko came out he'd slip flat on to his butt…and then revenge would be his!

"Link?"

The boy raised his head to see the bird staring at him from the railing.

"Have you ever heard of Hyrule?" He skillfully turned in mid-hop so that he was now facing the youth. Sky's head tilted to the left, beak slightly open.

Link halted in the midst of a mop stroke. His eyes turned skyward and his forehead wrinkled. "Uh…no. Why?"

Sky's tail drooped. His head turned even more, quizzically this time. "Are you sure? This Sea isn't a part of Hyrule?"

Link shook his head. "I don't think so…," he said slowly. "There's forty-nine—wait. No. There's forty-eight islands and forty-_nine_ quadrants in the Great Sea. Orca said that there isn't much outside of the islands."

"Hmm," Sky muttered. "Strange."

Link looked at him expectantly, curiosity piqued.

Sky noticed this and flapped a dismissive wing. "It's just odd, is all. The Hero often appears in the land of Hyrule." He regarded a cloud with mild interest "Or the land above it."

There were faint thumps and thuds from below deck, the sounds of someone beginning the climb up the stairs. Link took this as a cue to quickly grab the bucket and move towards the door. His mopping took on a new fervor, even though his hands stung.

"So," he started, reluctant to let the conversation drop. "Have you helped a lot of heroes, then?" Of course, he didn't consider himself a hero. Sky's words just reminded him of the hero of the legend, and he was curious.

"Not a one," Billy chipped in. He began trotting around the deck. He also discovered the entertainment value in chasing any seagulls that dared to land on the ship.

"I've taught my share," Sky replied smoothly.

A brief lapse into silence. More mopping.

"…did they all win?"

The bird was slow to respond. When he did, he raised his head to fix hard, amber eyes on him. "You will," he said with a quiet fierceness. "I'll make sure of that."

Link had had enough. He slammed the mop into the bucket, pushing out most of the remaining water. "Look, Sky," he said a little too loudly. It was the first time he had called the bird by its alleged name. "I'm really sorry that you came all the way from Hi-rool or whatever it's called but I'm not a hero. The only hero I've heard of is the one in the legend, and he didn't even—"

Just then, the door flew open.

A non-squirrely man peeked out. He had deep-set eyes and a blue-and-white striped shirt. He also had large sideburns that Link couldn't help but stare at. He recalled seeing this man at the dinner table the previous night. Apparently, he didn't talk much. His name was Zuko, Link believed.

Zuko slowly looked around the deck, then back at Link. His expression asked, "Who are you _talking _to?" Unbeknownst to him, Billy was sniffing his pants. His left pocket, to be exact. He then sat down and announced, "He has cookies in there."

Link just smiled awkwardly and mopped some more, this time to the side of the door. His revenge would have to wait.

Zuko's eyebrows rose as he saw the condition of the mop handle. He grabbed it and took one of Link's arms by the wrist.

"Oh," Link said in a small voice.

The handle was shining with blood, blood that was also oozing out of his palms. Zuko shook his head and released Link. He quickly scanned the area to make sure no one would see him helping the swabbie, then hobbled over to a section of the wall to the left of the door. He pointed at it and traced a large square on the surface. Link soon realized that he had traced the outlines of a well-hidden cabinet in the side of the wall. Zuko hooked his fingers in the cabinet's latch, which closely resembled an irregularity in the wood, and opened it to reveal a row of bottles and bandages.

Sky and Billy leaned forward inquisitively. Link recognized these bottles, whose contents ranged from a pale rosy color to a deep, rich shade akin to Sky's plumage. Bottle size seemed to have an inverse correlation with color saturation: the deeper the shade of red, the smaller its container.

"Red potion," Billy said. Link gave a small nod.

Link had a lot of experience with red potion. Grandma kept a similar cabinet in the house. The paler the color, the more diluted it was, and thus the cheaper and less effective it was. Grandma had applied the palest one to his various scrapes and bruises hundreds of times.

"Battle scars," he called them. "Boo boos," his Grandma would say.

Seeing the industrial-sized glass jug of weak Red potion reminded Link of all the times she had admonished him, of all the half-promises he had mumbled about being more careful…he could almost the cookie Grandma would always give him afterwards.

The jug was in the direct center of the cabinet, so Zuko only had to unscrew the lid for Link to get at it. As he leaned in to scoop up some of the potion, he noticed one bottle that was wedged into the far back corner, a thick layer of dust lining the small, single-serving container.

The potion inside was as blue as the Sea itself.

Rubbing the pale liquid between his palms, Link's mind raced at the sight of the Blue potion. How the pirates had managed to get their hands on some, Link couldn't guess. And of such potency! Orca had said that strong Blue potion could do anything except bring a corpse back to life. That small bottle screamed FOR EMERGENCIES ONLY. AND I MEAN EMERGENCIES. THIS STUFF DOESN'T GROW ON TREES, YOU KNOW!

It was quite possible that this bottle had even been passed down from captain to captain. Or maybe they had stolen it? They were pirates, after all.

The pinkish potion on Link's hands stung for a second, but then delivered a familiar cool, soothing sensation. The bleeding stopped almost immediately, just like all those other times. Link hesitated before accepting the bandages Zuko offered him. Grandma would always do this for him, but he didn't want to look like a little kid in front of Zuko…

Zuko watched him fumble with the bandages, using much more than he had to. He raised an eyebrow and took the bandages from Link, wrapping them tightly around the boy's hands. He used half of what Link was going to waste.

When Zuko was done, he put everything back in the cabinet, awkwardly patted Link on the head, and set off for his post in the crow's nest. However, he stopped when Link's stomach made it quite clear to everyone on deck that it was empty, and that it was not happy about it. Zuko rubbed his forehead and walked back. With shifty eyes, his left hand dove into his pocket and he fished out a small cookie, the kind with jelly in the center. Apparently, he had taken a not-very-approved-of snack break. He put a finger to his lips and waggled his eyebrows: _It's a secret to everybody_.

Link mimicked the gesture. If Link had been more familiar with the lookout, he might have noticed the tiniest flicker of amusement on the pirate's face before he turned and lithely clambered up the ladder to the crow's nest.

Maybe these pirates weren't all jerks, after all. Thoughtfully, Link flexed his hand and tried to remember how Zuko had bandaged it. He vaguely wondered if Niko and Tetra had the potential to be nice, as well.

He raised the cookie to his mouth and crunched down. It was a lot smaller than he thought it would be—waiiit…

Link glared at Billy, who had taken a sudden interest in his paws.


	8. Complaints

OH GOD. I was this close to not posting on Tuesday. I'm at COLLEGE (sparkle sparkle) and my laptop has refused to play nice with the Wi-Fi for the past couple of days and my schedule is crap so there's been a lot of stress lately. I might not update regularly until I can get adjusted and find time to type up the chapters. I kind of gave up with editing into the chapter so I'm really sorry if you guys smash your keyboard in frustration. Thank you so much for reading and being patient with me. Please R&R. I really appreciate it.

After two days on the pirate ship, he was ready to form a conclusion:

All of this was stupid. He was silently making a list of all the reasons why.

Top of his list: he was permanently a wolf. Although he admitted that the form had its uses, he had never really liked being a wolf. Adjusting between two legs and four was annoying, and the black-and-white vision gave him headaches. And then some red cucco with a honker the size of a Goron goes and tells him that, guess what, he'll never walk on two legs again; he'll be like this for the rest of eternity.

This led to his next gripe: he was small. When he had first appeared in this world, he had thought that it was a world populated by giants. Nope. The stocky wolf that had once gained guilty pleasure from striking terror into the people at the Hyrule Castle Market…was now the size of a newborn goat. The goddessdamned kid could pick him up and carry him around like the stray dogs that had populated the market's backstreets if he wanted to. 'Course, he'd bite his fingers off if he ever tried it, but…this sudden vulnerability. He hated it. In his life, he had almost always been in control. Strong. Confident. The 'you can count on me' guy who had slayed entire hordes of monsters and had saved the world from an everlasting twilight. This was the same guy who had just gotten taken down by a big red bird.

That big red bird was on the list too. He had said that he was the original Link. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Billy wasn't sure how he was supposed to take that, and when he was confused, he got mad. So half the time, he was pissed at Sky because for one, the guy didn't have the balls to finish off Ganon when he first showed up. At least, that's what he assumed. Otherwise, he himself wouldn't have had to become a hero, right? He wouldn't have gotten addicted to the thrill of it. He wouldn't have…

Ugh. He wasn't in the mood for angst. Not even now, on this half-assed boat.

And the boat! How could he possibly forget the boat? It was huge, and sometimes it smelled worse than he had after a solid week in his fish suit. Hell, he could probably outrace this thing if he had his Zora Armor. The halls below were cramped, which he _hated_, everything smelled like salt, which with his sensitive nose drove him insane, and the pirates were all douchers. He had a particular grudge against douchers.

See, Billy had a special naming system for people he didn't like, and it was a whole lot easier to go up his scale than to go down. It started with idiots, which ranged from a fond nickname to being a…well, an idiot. Jerks were next. They tended to have a redeeming feature, even if they tried to hide it. Bastards were higher on the list, since they had the nasty habit of being right half the time. And then there were douchers. There was no redemption for them, in Billy's eyes. Douchers did everything in their power to break your delicate mask of stoicism, to just completely and utterly ruin your day because hey, why the hell not. The worst part was that there was always a reason you couldn't heed your instinct to beat the everloving crap out of them.

Thus, these pirates were serious douchers. They had turned the kid into their own frikkin' maid, for goddess's sake. Like after the kid had finally finished mopping. He went back to the closet to rest a little, right? 'Cept he couldn't even get into the goddessdamned room. It was like the pirates had been hoarding all their used clothes until a swabbie came along, just so rat-face wouldn't have to do it. Seriously? He was a _kid_. His Grandma probably still washed his undies. He looked completely lost in the giant pile of smelly clothes. It reeked, it was claustrophobic, and it. Was. So. Boring.

The only relief Billy got was when the kid found some of Captain Bitch's laundry.

The kid had stopped swirling the water around and had said, "Uh…what is this?"

Billy had taken one look before saying "They're earmuffs." in all seriousness, but then Buzzkill Birdie had stopped the kid just as he had been about to wrap the bra around his head. He had shot Billy one of those I'm-disappointed-in-you-why-don't-you-act-your-age looks. Come on, he was just trying to have a little fun. Sheesh.

In a way, this stagnant period was torture for him. An entire month of stalking this kid as he cleaned everything on this boat? No way. Just his luck to unwittingly become a spirit guide for the most boring hero of all time…but, at least that was good for the kid. He didn't look like much of a hero, anyway; he was practically all baby fat. Billy wasn't sure if the goddesses had either gone blind or wanted the world to end.

The only thing the kid had going for him was that he didn't give up. After finishing the wash and using the entire expanse of the empty hallway to hang the clothes up to dry, the kid still went to rat-face and took another shot at the swingy…jumpy testy thingy. It looked a lot easier than swinging from a chain of interlocking monkeys (yeah…) but the kid's hands were effed up enough from the day before. He just ignored the bleeding and stepped on the switch again and again, breathing heavy, eyes dead set on the far door. This time around he managed to stick the landing on the second platform twice. What an accomplishment. But then he went and blew it by getting overexcited and underswinging on the next rope. His fingers scrabbled for the third platform like a bunch of baby Gohma legs but he wound up flat on the floor all the same.

Did he pity the kid? Yes. Could he do anything about it? Not with Mr. DO NOT INTERFERE watching his every move. Except he hadn't counted on one thing: Billy wasn't as dumb as he acted. He noticed things, like how the bird, like himself, was a deep sleeper.

All he had to do was wait.

Mini-Link, as he had started to call the kid, was too bushed to talk that night. As soon as he pushed his way through the array of damp clothes, he went straight for the mattress, which had been shoved into a corner to make room for the mass of dirty laundry. He examined the mattress, trying to figure out if the comfort was worth the effort of smoothing it out. Then Mini-Link arrived at his conclusion and collapsed on to the floor.

Billy laughed silently and took his place by the entrance; his uneasiness in small spaces drove him to find an exit in case of, you know, bad stuff. Spontaneous Darknuts and surprise Freezards and…stuff. Enlcosed areas just put him on edge, okay?!

That wasn't even the point here. He was waiting for the bird to go to sleep. Problem was, the bird seemed to have other ideas.

"What was Hyrule like during your life?"

Billy's ear twitched. Frikkin' cucco. Not only was he not sleeping, he was asking him questions that he didn't want to answer. The wolf himself had been pretending to be dozing, curled up near the frame of the open doorway.

"Big," he replied without opening his eyes. _And amazing_, he thought. He recalled diving off the waterfall in Zora's Domain while his Zora bros cheered him on, of racing across fields with Midna making snide remarks all the way. He remembered herding goats, watching stars, and sitting at the spring with Illia. He had to grit his teeth to suppress a whimper. Stupid, stupid bird.

"Were there Gorons? Zoras?"

"Yep."

"…were there people in the sky?" he said faintly.

Uh.

"Yeah…." You could call the Ooccoo people if you squinted. While drunk. In the dark.

"Really? What were they like?"

The sudden intensity in his voice made Billy look up instinctively. The elder Link's eyes were alight and he was leaning as far out of the bucket as possible to focus all of his attention on him, demanding answers.

"Freaky bird people," Billy answered honestly before he could think of a sarcastic reply. "They have a thing for hiding in pots in dungeons. It's really weird. Like, I kept this one bird lady in my pocket half the time. And her son was a flying head. I'm still not sure how that works. I mean, how does he take a—"

But Sky had stopped listening, disbelief coloring the sigh he uttered before settling in to sleep.

Billy spent a long time staring at the bird before muttering, "Yeah, well I didn't want to talk to you either." He checked to make sure Sky really was fast asleep, then got up as quietly as he could. He went on tip-paw down the hallway, turned to ensure that he had left unnoticed, and then sauntered through the ship, adding the finishing touches to his scheme.

Sky had thought that he was too old to get angry. Travelling with several heroes had given him a near-infinite patience, which was being pushed to its limits here. Three days on this ship and he was already about to crack. What kind of a guide was he?

Of course, numerous factors contributed to this. The pirates, for one. The sheer amount of time they were going to have to spend aboard this wooden vessel, for another.

Sunlight streamed through the porthole and the faint cry of seagulls drew Sky from the abyss of sleep. He opened his eyes and his heart leaped when he first saw the blue sky. He spread his arms and—

…right. Wings.

He chided himself gently. When would he finally realize that he was forever stuck inside the body of a Loftwing? And a red one, at that. The goddesses sure had a dry sense of humor. He knew that his did. He smiled to himself and stretched. The bird did a quick perusal of the closet to make sure nothing had changed, a habit honed by many days spent in the dark depths of dungeons.

Clothes hung from clotheslines made of twine, creating colorful curtains that filtered the light. To Sky's surprise, it was much later into the day than he had first thought. Had not Niko awakened Link several hours earlier the day before?

Ducking under a rather large pair of pants, Sky regarded the youngest Link, curled up into a ball on the floor, fast asleep. His hands were clenched and he was drooling a little.

The boy really did resemble him.

_Of course he does_, Sky mused. _They always do._ Staring at a reincarnation of himself had stopped being creepy after the second hero. Sky left the boy to sleep while he could still afford to spend all those precious hours unconscious and returned to his makeshift bed of towels.

A loud snore ripped through the closet and Sky froze, battle instincts kicking in. He relaxed as soon as he realized that it was just the lump of fur being obnoxious.

Ah, the wolf—sorry. _Billy_, was amongst the thorns in his side. Rash, rude, and completely immature. The story he had composed last night about a Skyloft of 'freaky bird people' still made his feathers rise in anger. It seemed that he would have to watch over two Links on this adventure.

Maybe he should tell Billy why he shouldn't interfere, of the possible consequences he could incur. But no. Sky's feathers smoothed out. He couldn't bear to relive those memories.

"Gaaah…"

A low moan came from the far wall and green eyes squinted at Sky from between two striped shirts.

"Good morning!" Sky chirped with more cheeriness than he felt.

Link yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Mornin'." He regarded all the clothes balefully, as if thinking back on all the hours devoted to—albeit badly—cleaning every last sock, shirt, and bandanna. Why so many bandannas?

In spite of how much the young islander disliked this work and how much he complained internally (Sky could tell), he still got up to finish the task. Sky, who had helped Link hang the clothes in the first place, flew up and dislodged garments into Link's reluctantly waiting arms. Then came the folding. He had to be directed on how to do it properly, but he soon got the hang of it.

Billy was still sleeping.

Five large piles of clothing later, they were ready to make some deliveries. Link hefted the first load and waddled through the door. He paused.

"Should we wake Billy up?"

"No. Let him rest." The time with a quiet wolf was too sweet to end right now. Perhaps he would become an excellent spirit guide in time, for he showed signs of potential on occasion, but Sky didn't want to be the one to have to keep him in check. He could already imagine sitting on the wolf so that he wouldn't bite a Bokoblin's butt. Perhaps a sound rap on the head would…help….to…..

The halls were completely silent.

Sky's eyes darted around, shoulders tense, as he led the way to the pirates' quarters. His pace slowed, each claw deliberately raised, extended, lowered…

"Why are you slowing down?" Link's voice was muffled as he spoke past the clothes he carried, piled all the way up to his nose.

"Do you hear that? There's no noise at all."

Link stopped and narrowed his eyes. "Uh…I guess. Maybe everyone's still asleep." He resumed his journey to drop off the clothes, determined to be rid of them as soon as possible.

Yeah, everyone could still be asleep. However, Sky was more cautious than that. He had been on ships as silent as this before, in his life and as a guide. In the former, the ship had been entirely obliterated by a giant sea monster with a questionable hairstyle. In the latter, the undead had risen to kill them while the ship had decided that this would be the perfect time to start sinking.

In summary, he did not like silent ships.

"Do you have your sword?"

Link kept walking. Sky stalked after him, eyes fixed on the boy's back.

"Link," Sky said as patiently as he could while trying to keep his skyrocketing anxiety in check. "I strongly suggest that you go back and get your sword."

But the boy didn't listen. He continued to walk. If Sky had not been so intent on not interfering, he would have retrieved the sword himself. Instead, he could only follow.

Placing the clothes beside the doorframe, the boy rapped his knuckles against the wood. A small yelp could be heard from inside the room. Sky's mind was racing. Could he pull Link out of the way if something happened? Was that allowed?

Link knocked again. "Hello? I'm here to give you your laundry."

This spurred a feverish whispering behind the door. Then nothing. Sky half expected the door to burst forth with a swarm of zombie pirates, so when he heard thuds and things scraping along the floor, he let out a raucous caw of alarm that caused Link to flinch.

No monster exploded out of the room, a tad embarrassing for the spirit guide. Actually, now that he listened closely, it sounded like they were moving furniture around, as if…they had barricaded the entrance?

A hard yank opened the door and Niko stuck his head out. Dark shadows circled his bloodshot eyes.

"Swabbie," he croaked. "Is that really you?" He craned his neck to try and see more of the hallway while trying to expose as little of himself as possible. "No one else with you?"

Link's eyes flicked to Sky before answering, "…is there supposed to be?"

Niko ignored him and turned around to yell, "Mako! Gonzo! Senza! It's gone!"

With that, all four of them shuffled out, each with bags under his eyes and a disheveled appearance telling of a sleepless night. Sky was torn between consternation and bemusement.

"What happened to you guys?" Link demanded.

"It wouldn't stop! Thud scratch thump thud scratch thump chomp chomp chomp!" the big green shirt guy, Gonzo, wailed. He was holding Mako like Aryll held her stuffed animal. Mako was too busy dozing off to do anything about it.

"A ghost was terrorizing us for the entire night," Senza expanded. He rubbed his face. "It kept thumping and scratching at the door. At first we thought it was a rat, but as soon as Gonzo opened the door—" A sob from Gonzo. "—something with big teeth bit him."

"And there was no one there," Niko said ominously, as if wrapping up a ghost story. He was also clutching a wooden spoon, which he proceeded to shove in Link's face. "See this, swabbie? This is the reason I was the only one who didn't get bitten. The ghost spares people with spoons! Spoooons!" His voice slurred at the end, and his eyes glazed over as he held the piece of cutlery reverently.

Link decided that there were better times to give them their laundry. He turned around and speedily returned to the closet. On the trek back, he wondered aloud, "Do you think there's really a ghost?"

"I think I have an idea," Sky replied. The problem was that he was too busy trying not to laugh to be mad at Billy. Okay, so maybe the pirates deserved it a little.

Speaking of the wolf, he was still asleep when Link came in to gather Tetra's and Zuko's clothes. His snores had increased and his back leg twitched every now and then. It had probably been a long night for him, and Sky allowed himself to give Billy some grudging respect. But there were other things to do. Link was on the move again, and Sky dutifully trailed behind him.

"Do you know where her room is?"

"I'll just look for the nicest one," Link responded dryly.

Sky would have had to hide a smile if his beak wasn't naturally curved upward.

It didn't take that long. The room was close to the door leading to the deck, it didn't smell (as bad) and it was the only one with a burly pirate standing guard in front of it.

Upon seeing this, the first thing out of Link's mouth was, "Why doesn't she just get a door?" These last few days had not given him a good opinion of the lady pirate.

Nudge-for that was the pirate's name-cracked a smile and chuckled. His black hair swayed back and forth. "Don't let Miss Tetra hear you saying that!"

The expression on Link's face would have made Billy proud. This only made Nudge laugh even more. He took the clothes from the swabbie and gave him a Blue rupee for his troubles. That lifted his mood a little.

"The captain is a lot nicer than she seems," Nudge said in the kindest tone he had heard from a pirate so far. "She just tries to hide it under a rough n' tough persona. It's not as bad as it might seem at first." The boy gave him an appreciative smile that transformed into a doubtful look as soon as he was out of Nudge's line of sight.

Sky himself did not want to leave, but he had to obey his duty to the hero. While Link had been conversing with Nudge, something in Tetra's room had caught his eye. It was a framed piece of art, and though Nudge's body had obscured most of it, Sky could see part of a leg, a belt, and possibly a skirt, but he was quite sure it was a tunic, for it was the green of fields.

There had been a hero here before? A real hero, chosen by the goddesses? Where was here, in relation to Hyrule?

Perhaps he was reading too much into this. Tunics of this style weren't uncommon in the time periods he had been awake in. This Link had said that all boys on his island wore the tunic when they came of age. Heck, he had seen an entire village dressed in green tunics. Yes, he was definitely overreacting. The fatalistic part of his mind was eager to interpret disaster. Hyrule wasn't gone, and maybe there had indeed been a hero wearing a green tunic. Just not a hero hero.

But then why was he here, and not Hyrule?

He didn't want to think about this anymore; he was too tired. Hundreds of years of fatigue weighed on his bird shoulders. If he had the choice to do it again, he would have preferred to die alongside his queen instead of living on as a spirit guide.

_No, I wouldn't have_._ I would have made the exact same choice._ Right, because he was just too much of a good guy to let future versions of him do this without any help. He would still have chosen to trap himself in this vicious cycle of numbness and brutal reality because it was the right thing to do. Goddesses, did he hate himself sometimes.

Sky's beak connected with the main mast, making him stumble and get cross-eyed for a few seconds.

"_Caw_," he uttered roughly and shook his head. He looked up to see Link already scaling the ladder to the crow's nest.

Sky sighed. As he spread his all-too familiar wings, he couldn't help but think _I'm getting too old for this_.

"Whoaaaa…"

Link clutched the edge of the crow's nest, head tilted over the side to try and take everything in at once. The deck was a looong way down-he'd need a whole lot more pale potion if he tried to jump from this height. And yet…

Sky swooped past his head, bright red feathers alight in the sun. The bird seemed to be in one of his deep thinks again, automatically adjusting to the myriad of strong winds that existed up here. He would absentmindedly tuck his wings in and dive towards the Sea, only to snap them back open at the last possible second to skim over the waters and baffle seagulls. The Sea, a shade of blue Link had never seen before, completely surrounded the ship. Outset was a speck, smaller than the slowly growing Five-Eye Reef. Oh wait-! Link's hand shot for his pouch and he rooted around for—there! He took out Aryll's telescope. Its red paint caught the light and made him squint. Zuko nodded with approval: he knew a high-quality telescope when he saw one.

Usually, he hated it when people hung around in the crow's nest, which he considered his own room. However, he doubted that he could get Link out even if he tried. The swabbie was eagerly looking all around with the telescope, focusing in and panning out at random. Each wave seemed to fill him with wonder. Heh, he knew the feeling.

Link slowly turned with his sister's most treasured possession, sometimes looking at the sky, other times at the wood beneath his feet. His excitement turned to confusion when he saw something in the crow's nest that he hadn't noticed before.

"Why do you have a pile of old shoes in here?" It wasn't only beat-up shoes. Cans, rocks, and other pieces of junk shared the heap.

Zuko pointed down, toward the aft, where the gong swayed gently in the wind.

"I don't get it."

Zuko rolled his eyes and returned to his post: staring intently at Five-Eye Reef. It was dangerous to sail in these waters, even from this distance. He could sense Link staring his over his shoulder, and anticipated the question before it even left the boy's mouth.

"Are we going to—" Niko cut him off and with a multitude of gestures made it quite clear that they planned to skirt around the reef instead of confronting its dangerous inhabitants. The boy looked deflated but chances were that his short attention span would make quick work of that.

Sure enough, Link's focus was quickly redirected when he heard yelling from the stern and turned to see Tetra give Gonzo an earful about how OF COURSE THERE'S NO GHOSTS ON THIS SHIP, YOU IDIOT! WHAT KIND OF A MORON THINKS A FEW NOISES ON A SHIP AS OLD AS THIS IS FROM A GHOST DO YOU EVEN_ THINK_…

Tetra's mouth opened to epic proportions as her throat launched insults and commands at the chastised pirate with incredible amounts of volume. Her eyes looked like pillars of blue flame and for someone who was short for their age, she was rather terrifying.

Nudge's words on her alleged kindness in Link's mind and he snorted. Her? Nice? That was like saying he was the hero of legend: ludicrous and impossible. If she so much as gave Aryll a mean look on the trip home…

Aryll. How was she? Did she have enough food? Was she comfortable? Link couldn't afford to ponder if she was dead, because if she was, he might as well just pitch himself over the side right now. His eyes glazed over as he thought of what the Forsaken Fortress must be like. Tetra faded from his vision and was replaced by an evil tower filled with Bokoblins and worse things, where little girls sat in cells under the watchful eye of a giant bird with a taste for flamboyant headgear.

Zuko made a harsh, guttural sound with his throat. He looked rather smug.

Blinking, the youth turned to face him. "What?"

Zuko drew an imaginary line of sight from Link to Tetra, raising his eyebrows.

Three seconds. Two. One.

"Oh ew no!" Link exclaimed. "That's not what I was…no!" His face grew red from embarrassment, yet Zuko took this more as a confession despite Link's heated protests. The lookout snickered and resumed looking at the reef.

And then he froze.

In the time he had been teasing the swabbie, an entire fleet of cannon boats, Bokoblins on rafts, and—wait was that…yeah, it was. Great.—submarines had taken the liberty of advancing upon the ship.

Zuko whirled around, ripping the bandanna from his head. He gripped it like a makeshift sling and grabbed an old shoe from the pile. Putting the shoe into his bandanna, Zuko whirled it over his head and used his sharp eyes to launch the shoe with pinpoint accuracy at the gong.

_BRANNNGG!_

Once meant cyclone. Twice meant monster invasion.

"Oh gods," he heard the kid gasp. Then as he reached for a second shoe, he heard a yell that made Link's voice crack:

"MONSTERS! MONSTERS ARE ATTACKING!"


	9. The Ones who Kill

Author's Note: AAAAHHH GOD. My head is clogged with mucus right now and I have class in half an hour. Sorry for the late update, kinda passed out last night. =_= Anyways, big chapter, important chapter, crudely edited chapter. Thank you for continuing to read this, please R&R, visit the forum maybe, and hope that I don't sneeze my brains out. See you in a week. Maybe.

It was like everyone except Link knew what to do.

Gonzo had charged topside with brass knuckles, belting out a nonsensical battle cry. A grim-faced Mako, now wide-awake, wielded a strange contraption consisting of a giant wooden fist connected to a box by some sort of spring. Zuko had already begun picking off any monsters within range of his shoes of fury. Tetra herself had a cutlass drawn and was positioned at the bow, as if daring the first of the monsters' raiding party to try and board her ship so that she could lop its stupid head clean off.

Sky landed behind Link and bent forward so his head was near the boy's ear.

"Now might be a good time to retrieve your sword," Sky prompted.

"Right," Link mumbled. He swung himself around and skittered down the ladder.

It was like Tetra sensed him touch down on to the deck: her head snapped around and she snarled, "Hey kid! Get belowdecks and stay out of the way! This is no place for grandma's boys." One of the cannon boats shot a bomb aimed straight for the girl. She simply stared it down, as if in a game of chicken. Right before it reached the ship, an old sandal hurtled into it and the bomb exploded in mid-air. Tetra didn't even blink as shrapnel stuck in her bun, instead pulling a throwing star out of the wraps on her arm and whipping it into the forehead of the nearest Bokoblin. The beast let out a guttural yell that made Link shudder.

The pirate captain noticed that Link was still standing by the ladder. She whirled around and screamed, "I SAID _GO!_"

Link bolted for the door and scrambled down the stairs, passing Niko as he went topside with a small meat tenderizer pilfered from the galley.

Forward. Turn. Turn. Uh, which way was it again? Good thing Sky was better at directions than he; otherwise it would have taken much longer to reach the closet. When they did arrive at his base of operations, they found Billy with Link's sword in his mouth and his shield carefully balanced on his shoulders.

"Shup." He was gingerly gripping the sheath with the tips of his teeth, but some saliva got on it anyway. He placed the sword at Link's feet and shrugged off the shield. His tail began to wag.

"So I heard guys yelling about an attack or something." Yes, his tail was definitely wagging.

"Tetra told me to stay here," Link said. For once, Sky and Billy acted in unison as they both gave him incredulous looks.

"And you're going to listen to her?" Billy demanded. "Kid, come on. You can't be serious."

"I have to agree," Sky chipped in. "In this situation, you'll be more of a help there than down here."

"But—"

"Tell me something, kid. Are you really gonna take orders from the bitch who got your sister kidnapped?" The wolf saw him flinch. "She thinks you can't do squat. You're dead weight. And you're just going to take that?"

The anger Link had pushed deep, deep down inside of him came bubbling up to the surface. He was right. This was all her fault. But did she act that way? No! Instead, she insulted him, made him clean _everything_, and fed him such tiny servings that it created a hollow feeling in him all the time. No. He was _not_ going to take this. His dark green eyes turned black and he set his jaw.

"I'm going back up," he declared with barely restrained fury. He picked up the sword and strapped the shield to his back.

Sky nodded. "Not the best motivation, but I suppose it works," he said under his breath.

Billy nudged Link out of the closet, then paused and muttered, "Oh right. The porthole's still open. Do you think monsters can get in that way?"

"I'll close it," Sky said automatically. Using his powerful wings to hover in front of the porthole, he pushed it shut with his beak. There was a sucking sound as it closed, forming an airtight seal.

"Did you close it all the way?"

"Completely shut," Sky affirmed.

"Good," Billy said, and slammed his shoulder into the door, trapping Sky inside.

Link stared at the wolf. The middle Link returned the look with a dead serious expression. "You can either waste precious time trying to get this door open, or you can go up there, kick some ass, and show that bitch what you're made of."

Banging on the door and heated words from inside gave Link a pretty good idea on how Sky was feeling about this, but he got the feeling that Billy wouldn't let him get at the door even if he tried. As bad as he felt about it, Link made for the stairs.

Topside, chaos had broken out. Bokoblins had scaled the ship and were openly engaging pirates in combat. Bombs came soaring into view, only to explode into bursts of light and noise due to the near-constant stream of random junk that came flying out of the crow's nest. The pirates themselves had taken out the catapult Link had seen them use against the big purple bird and were effectively taking out cannon boats and incoming rafts. The air was rent with shrieks, screams, and explosions. An influx of clouds smothered the sun and made everything appear much darker. The wind was picking up, carrying with it the smells of gunpowder and blood.

Billy didn't seem fazed at all. He laughed wildly and leaped on the nearest Bokoblin, yelling, "Interfere this, you stupid bird!" His teeth carved ugly gashes into the monster's flesh. The Bokoblin screeched and flailed around in a desperate attempt to rid itself of an invisible assailant.

Link tried to steady his breathing. The shield weighed his arm down and it was tiring trying to keep it up all the time. It took several attempts to get his sword out, the dried blood on it causing it to stick to the insides of the scabbard.

As he finally managed to yank the blade out, it began to rain.

The next hour or so was a turbulent mishmash of slashing and screaming. Link spent most of it hiding behind his shield, cowering from the many fists and crude machetes aimed at his head and torso. After a while, the ache in his arm turned to numbness, and he had to resort to his sword to keep the monsters at bay. If he killed any, he had no idea. Every time the blade was lodged in something, he pulled it out and swung again. The rain dropped the temperature and made everything slick. Sometimes, Link would catch glimpses of other pirates amidst the throng of monsters. Gonzo smashing one's head against the railing. Nudge punching another's face in. Mako's contraption socking one in a place that made Link wince. Billy, streaked with blood, mutilating another victim's leg. The smell of blood was strong and it made Link's eyes water. Blackening corpses and grimy Rupees lay scattered around the deck, sliding to and fro as the ship turned with the dark, stormy waters.

Eventually, Link managed to back into a corner. His breathing was shallow and his arms felt like lead. Looking over the battlefield with squinted eyes, he saw that there were many dead bodies strewn everywhere. However, there were twice as many monsters that were still alive.

Just as the thought of returning to the closet to hide and throw up crossed his mind, an enormous, hulking beast entered his line of sight and headed directly for him.

Its face was akin to the grotesque union of a human and a fattened pig, complete with bulging lower lip, small and yellow bestial eyes, and a large, hairy snout. Tattoos decorated its well-muscled arms, which made carrying its giant spear quite easy.

The beast pulled the lethal weapon back, rain dripping off the tip like blood off a cleaver. It was going to kill him.

_Why?_

There was no why. Link could see it in the beast's eyes. There was a mindless drive to kill, destroy. It was going to kill him because. That was its why.

Link tried to raise his shield, but he was exhausted and his arm didn't react fast enough.

The spear shot forward and buried itself in Link's lower torso. He couldn't even scream; all that came out was a breathless whimper as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His brain couldn't handle the pain. The noise around him suddenly grew duller and his vision blackened around the edges. He could barely feel the impact of his body against the deck when the Moblin tore the spear out of his intestines. His sense of smell died and his breathing was coming even shallower, the loudest sound he could hear.

He found that he was staring at the sky. The rain seemed to be falling slower. Faintly, as if from a great distance, Link heard Billy yell, "LINK! YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

His eyes slid shut. His breathing didn't seem so loud anymore. Dimly he thought, _Who's going to open the door for Sky?_

When a terrifying, icy sensation stole over him, he immediately knew that Link was dying. He didn't know how, or why, but he knew. His head snapped around just in time to see the Moblin tear its bloody spear out of the kid. "LINK!" He kicked off of the Bokoblin he had been gnawing on and charged.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

He shoved the Moblin and knocked it off balance, causing it to bump into Gonzo. Gonzo shoved the Moblin back. In the face.

Billy reached for his pouch to get the kid a fairy when—oh right—paws. So all he could do was circle around the near-lifeless body, screaming for someone, anyone to help him. His shouts of "HE'S DYING!" and "COME HERE AND FUCKING _DO_ SOMETHING!" went unheeded. The rain drenched his fur and the cold feeling numbed his teeth and feet.

Never had he felt so helpless.

Sitting beside the kid's head, he let out a low whine. "He's just a kid," he whimpered. Just then, Niko found the boy lying there bleeding like there was no tomorrow and he hollered for Tetra. The pirate captain was otherwise preoccupied dealing with the Moblin, who was currently punching Gonzo in the gut. She only replied, "Not now!"

Billy rose. A low growl started in his throat. This, at least, he knew how to handle.

He tackled the Moblin, his redirected rage and frustration giving him the power to knock the beast over so that he could begin tearing at its face. The pirates could only stare dumbly as deep gashes magically appeared in the wailing monster's flesh. Then Niko had yelled to get Tetra's attention again.

That was what Billy had been doing while they were working to keep the kid from dying. It was all he ever did, really: kill, kill and kill some more. He had stood on the Moblin's chest with the rank taste of its flesh and blood in his mouth, its shrieks of pain deafening his ears, its bloody, barnyard odor clogging his nostrils, and the sight of its petrified stare and mutilated face filling his vision. Billy stood there with that terrible feeling of frozen failure while he killed the Moblin, thinking of the pirates who were aiding the kid in ways he couldn't, of the only guy who probably knew what to do—who he had trapped in a musty old closet—and of the boy, who deserved none of the things that had happened to him.

Billy killed that Moblin, and he hated himself.

Link was too tired to open his eyes, but he got the distinct sense that he was falling. He did not know how long he fell. Maybe he was asleep for a bit, but he felt like it took a good while for him to realize that he had stopped.

First came the wind. A gentle one, that tickled his nose. Cracking an eye open, Link found that the sky had cleared up, now a scintillating blue. The grass beneath him was odd, much softer than the coarse island grass he was used to. This place smelled funny. Where was the salt?

The eleven-year-old-boy slowly got up, freezing when he noticed that there was a big, gaping hole in his torso. Tentatively, he poked around in the hole, horrified as well as curious that there was a giant pink noodle in his tummy. The weirdest part was that he didn't feel anything. It didn't hurt, it was just squishy. Weird…

Link wiped the blood from his internal organs off on his shirt and looked around.

HOLY GODS!

Where was the Sea?! There was no water at all! Grass, as far as the eye could see! Some funny looking trees, maybe a couple of mountains over there? In the words of Billy, this was a big-ass island! What kind of freaky place was this? The lack of a shore anywhere made his head spin.

Instead of waiting around for something to happen, he picked a random direction and started walking. A rock here, tree, tree…when was he going to reach the shore?

Something appeared on the horizon. What else was there to do but walk towards it? The figure grew larger, approaching at an increasing pace. Link squinted, then gasped. The figure was him.

Well, sorta. The figure was like a slightly older, skinnier version of Link, with darker (and fluffier) hair. He was even wearing a green tunic and cap, although the sleeves were of a tan color. In his left hand was a sword and in his right was a shield.

Now that he thought about it, why was this other Link running?

It seemed that he was going pretty fast. Oh gods, did he tick off a pig? What a great time to be away from a source of water. This one time, he—

Oh. Those were a lot bigger than pigs.

Two beefy guys in shiny blue clothing (the only armor Link had seen before were the shells of crabs) showed up behind the other Link, jogging after him at a brisk, steady pace.

Link began to back away, but he tripped over his own foot. That's how the other Link found him: a small confused kid sitting on his butt. The other Link turned his head to stare at him as he sped past, but then he was out of his line of vision and the thirteen-year-old kept running.

The shiny men were coming up pretty fast.

Link felt a rough jerk on the back of his tunic. Before he knew it, he was being dragged backwards across the grass. Then he was being chucked behind a big tree and his elbow collided with one of its roots. It didn't hurt as much as it should have.

Big Link—he couldn't think of anything else to call him—stuck his head out from behind the tree, so Link did the same. The two men were still coming. Big Link sighed, jabbed a finger in his face, then directed it at the ground: _Stay here and don't do anything stupid_. Not waiting to see if Link assented, he gripped his sword and ran forward.

Link peeked around the trunk to see what would happen. Big Link charged the men, sword arm held straight out. He ducked underneath their sword swings and wound up between the two. Letting out a yell of exertion, he unleashed a Spin Attack that caught one of the men's hamstrings. The man howled with pain and collapsed. The other one had survived the attack with only a cut to his thigh. As Big Link completed the spin, the man bashed the teen across the face with his shield. Big Link went flying. His limp body landed with a soft _thunk_ and he rolled a little before winding up with his face in the grass. The man advanced, a malicious sneer on his face.

Link had never seen one human attempt to murder another, and he didn't plan for that to change anytime soon.

"YAAAH!" Link sped out from behind the tree, hurdled over the crippled man, and body slammed his buddy. This was when Link discovered that their shiny blue clothing was made of metal, and metal was not good for a growing boy's head.

He bounced right off the man and went sprawling. The man halted in his advance and looked at Link. His dark eyes wandered around the spot where Link lay, obviously very confused. After a few seconds of not winding up decapitated, Link worked up the courage to shout in a wavering voice, "H-hey! You smell bad!"

The man might as well have been on the other side of the field, from the way he seemed to completely ignore the boy's storm of insults targeted at his intelligence and personal hygiene.

_Can…can he not see me?_ Link wondered. He could neither hear nor see Link. Like Billy and Sky. Who were dead. Link's breathing quickened and he glanced down at the hole in his gut. No. He couldn't be dead.

"Look at me!" he screamed as he kicked the man in the shin. "I'm not dead! LOOK. AT. ME!" His nose grew thick with snot and tears stung his eyes. The baffled man just rubbed his shin, Big Link all but forgotten at the moment. He could not understand why it felt like a little kid was kicking him repeatedly when there was obviously no one there.

Link's frantic assault gave Big Link the distraction he needed to sneak up on the palace guard and get his sword in the guard's exposed throat. The man gurgled and his eyes widened, but he didn't struggle much. His blood spread over the grass like thick red paint. Big Link didn't pull out his sword until he was 100% sure that the guard was dead.

"You killed him," Link whispered. He was kneeling, fists resting in his lap. He looked dazed, his eyes fixated on the dead guard's face, which was contorted with those last few seconds of pain.

Big Link put away his sword and shield. He folded his arms. "Yeah, well if I didn't kill him, he would've killed me." His eyes narrowed. Who was this guy, and what was he doing in the middle of nowhere? Why did he look like a chubbier and slightly younger version of himself? He walked slowly around Small Link, like a hawk trying to figure out of a particular animal was predator or prey.

"Wait…," Big Link grumbled. "That guard couldn't see you. Or hear you." His nostrils flared and he reached for his sword. "Goddessdammit! I told you I don't want your help!"

Small Link frowned. "My help?"

"You think a different form is good enough to fool me?" Big Link spat, "I know it's you! I'm not dumb enough to take any crap advice from a failure." He injected such venom into the last word that Small Link visibly shrank away from him.

"I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Get out!" Big Link roared as he advanced upon the other boy. "I'll pop your head off like I did last time with your wings!" His face was warped with hate.

Small Link had never experienced such vehement hatred from another person. This, along with the fear of being dead, pushed him over his limit. The shame he felt as tears rolled down his cheeks and sobs wracked his chest was not enough to stop the terror that filled him.

Big Link didn't expect this. For a bit, all he did was stand there while Small Link cried and cried. Somehow, he doubted that if Small Link really was that other guy, he would have caved at the first signs of aggression. And now that he was crying, Big Link finally realized where he had seen this kid before.

"You were the guy who led me to the secret passage!"

The sudden benign tone stilled Link's sobs. He wiped both his eyes and nose on his sleeves so that he could see and breathe. When his vision was clear, he saw that the look of intense loathing on Big Link's face had been replaced with a much friendlier countenance.

"I—_sniff_—what?"

Big Link sat down beside him. "When I had to sneak into the palace. It was dark and stormy and I couldn't really see, even with my lantern. I could just barely see you, though. When I tried to call out to get your attention, you ran. I followed you, and you led me to the secret passage into the palace. Then you just…disappeared. I probably would've gotten there too late if you hadn't helped me."

Rain, a dark figure with a light. Small Link could just barely recall the nightmare. He had been alive then. Did that mean he wasn't dead right now?

Hope bloomed in his chest, his elation blocking out Big Link's next words.

"Look, I'm sorry I flipped out on you. I thought you were this jerkface who was bugging me earlier. I was the only person who could hear or see him, so…" His eyes slid downwards, embarrassed that he had made the young boy cry. Then he saw Small Link's wound.

"Holy gods!" Big Link shouted. "Are you okay?! How are you not dead right now?" His hands fluttered around anxiously. "You—uh, you want some potion for that?"

"Nah," Link said mildly. "It doesn't really hurt." He poked around the wound some more to prove his point, but the queasy look on Big Link's face made him stop.

"You sure you don't want any potion?"

"Nope."

Big Link rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Apparently, he wasn't such a bad guy when he wasn't set on I'LL KILL YOU mode.

"Are you going to disappear again?"

Small Link shrugged. Last time he had 'disappeared' was when Billy had woke him up. This was really vivid for a dream, though. There was a distinct lack of salt in the crisp breeze, and he had never smelled in a dream before. If he was in fact asleep, then Big Link was a figment of his imagination.

"Can I ask you some questions?"

"Yeah sure whatever." Big Link was trying not to stare at his exposed innards.

"Why is your hair pink?"

Immediately, Big Link's hands flew up to his bangs and pressed them down, possibly a nervous habit. "It's not pink!" he said defensively. "It's tan! The sun just makes it look kinda reddish. Next question!" It seemed to be a touchy subject for him.

Small Link shifted from side to side. "Are you a hero?"

The hands fell. Big Link made a face. "I guess you could say that. But I'm definitely no famous try-to-save-the-world guy. I just want to help."

"So…" Small Link's voice was very low. "What's the difference between a hero and a murderer?"

Big Link's answer came much slower this time. He looked everywhere except at the dead guard, and he kept tousling his hair as he spoke. "Personally, I think it comes down to whether you want to, or you have to, and whether you're doing for yourself or not. I mean, I'd rather not kill people, but if they're trying to hurt others or stop me from saving someone…" He shrugged. "Well then you sort of have to, right?"

Small Link said nothing, so he kept going.

"Look at it this way: a murderer kills because he wants something and is willing to hurt someone for it. A hero kills to protect others, not because they want to. What does a hero get from dead monsters or…guards? A Rupee, maybe, but it's the people who don't get hurt that really benefit. I mean, at least that's what I think a real hero is. Just because you kill a ton of things and have a fancy sword doesn't make you a hero. If you can't do what has to be done when people need you the most, you're nothing but a failure." He sounded angry, or maybe bitter. "Do you get what I'm saying?"

Small Link "hmm'd". Would he be willing to kill to protect Aryll? Would saying yes mean that he was a hero, like the one of legend? Would saying no make him a failure? An extremely sour taste abruptly coated his tongue, accompanied by a, itchy sensation that quickly numbed his entire mouth. The numb feeling spread through his body. The taste in his mouth turned rank, like the inside of something that had died long ago.

Small Link had to close his eyes and concentrate on not gagging. Big Link uttered, "See you later, I guess." And everything faded away, until all he experienced was numbness.

After an indeterminate amount of time, the numbness receded and a gurgling began in his stomach, like after a big bowl of Grandma's homemade beans. It welled up in his throat, pressing against his lips. His eyes flew open and he belched simultaneously.

Doctors and potion masters called this 'The Burp of Life'. The puff of dark smoke that Link expelled was the remnants of the potion he had ingested, signaling that the medicine had done its work.

He felt good. More than good. Heck, he hadn't felt this good since he had been on Outset. All of his aches and bruises were gone, and he sensed that the hole in his gut was fully healed. Link found himself grinning from just how energized he felt. He could take the lantern swinging test a hundred times now.

The sky was a dark gray again. He was back on the pirate ship. Link became aware of pirates staring down at him. Billy leaned in too. Blood dripped from his maw.

"Thank the goddesses!" he exhaled. "I thought you were screwed." As he spoke, flecks of blackened monster meat freed themselves from his teeth and landed on Link's face, yet this euphoria he was experiencing prevented him from caring.

Link was so busy smiling at Billy that he didn't notice Tetra's fist flying in from the right. She connected with his jaw and Link was flat on the deck. Tetra seemed to tower over him, absolute fury etched into her features. In her left hand, she clutched an empty bottle.

Her voice started as a low growl that erupted into a shriek of rage. "I told you to STAY OUT OF THE _WAY_!" Everyone flinched at that. For a second, Link's ears hurt more than his jaw.

The pirate captain thrust her left hand forward. The bottle she held looked foggy and dusty with age. She hissed through gritted teeth, "My great-grandmother _died _protecting this Blue potion. And I had to waste it on _**you**_." She dashed the bottle against the deck. The shards of glass looked dull under the gray sky.

Link wanted to dig a hole and hide in it so he could escape the hate that rolled off of Tetra in waves.

"You can't fight. You're worse than useless!" she spat. "Your sister is going to die because you're too weak and stupid to do ANYTHING!" She stormed off. The pirates were expressionless, dispersing as Tetra, had finished screaming, leaving Link and the wolf alone on the deck.

A low rumble. It began to rain again.


	10. Redemption

Author's Note: Heeeey guess who can breathe again? I love air. Anyways, this and the next chapter are kinda short because…yeah. Anyways, I promise that we will finally reach the Forsaken Fortress by chapter 11. Thank you so much for sticking with the story. Please R&R, and I'll see you next week!

Sky was a pretty passionate guy. It was just that he often hid his emotions behind a calm façade. He could be sad, or happy…or unsure whether or not he could really take on that giant six-armed robot brought to life by a servant of darkness, but no one would know. Age had only perfected this mask of false tranquility.

Except when he was mad. He admitted that he had anger management issues. His fury had been wrought to the highest several times in his life, but he had only let it take control once, when all that separated him from tearing off Ghirahim's arms and beating him to a bloody pulp with his own limbs was an army of Bokoblins. That had been a bloodbath for the ages. He was glad that Zelda had not been awake to see him like that.

Now, his adversary was the door. With each futile charge at it, his anger grew, but it wasn't until he felt as if his entire body was turning to ice that his anger reached its max.

"No," he whispered. He knew that feeling. Link was dying.

He slammed into the door again. "NonononoNO!" He was furious at himself for letting the wolf trick him so easily, frustrated that he wasn't at Link's side while the boy lay dying. Any sense of restraint was lost to his all-consuming wrath. The smirking wolf burned in his mind's eye, the wolf who was letting Link die. His attacks were even fiercer now; a big hole in the wood was taking shape as Sky's beak smashed against it repeatedly. His amber eyes had turned blood red.

Link felt guilty. Tetra's tongue-lashing had sent him scurrying below deck, no longer smiling. Billy's awkward apologies and consolations went in one ear and out the other. All he processed was his own self-loathing.

Link was a failure. Why hadn't he just have listened to her? How stupid was he, thinking that he could possibly fight monsters…

_Your sister is going to die because you're too weak and stupid to do ANYTHING!_

Tetra's words reverberated in his head. Link sighed and turned the closet's doorknob. Maybe he could ask Sky and Billy to leave him alone for a little while.

The door opened easily. What seemed like a screeching fireball shot out and collided with Billy. Sky, claw extended, clasped the wolf's head and smashed it repeatedly against the wall, wordlessly screeching the entire time. Billy went limp after the second hit. Red foam formed around the edges of his mouth.

"Sky, what're you doing?!" Link cried. The maddened bird was terrifying. Sky didn't seem to hear him. Instead, he continued to vigorously punch a hole in the wall with Billy's head. For a split second, Link saw the giant purple bird in place of Sky and himself as Billy. Futility stole through him. Tetra's words returned.

"Stop!" Link shrieked. Steeling his nerves, he grabbed Sky's body and pulled him away. Sky shrilled and struggled to break free, flapping wings battering his head. Link refused to him go, only holding on tighter each time he got hit. It was as if the bird had mentally exploded, the way he thrashed around and screamed with the voice of a demented beast. Link was as scared as when he was just a toddler, when his parents would fight a lot. No one on the island talked about them anymore, but Link remembered.

"Stop," he said throatily. Gods, no tears, not now. The thrashing slowed until Sky ceased moving completely. He hung his head and with a defeated squawk, went limp in Link's arms. His claw finally relaxed and Billy was released from his grip. The bloodied wolf fell to the floor with a sickening thud. He didn't move.

Link stood in the hallway, holding Sky and staring at Billy. He swallowed hard.

He walked into the closet and placed Sky amongst the towels. He recalled the bird's chipper greeting that morning. Now he looked like all the energy had been drained from his body, until all that was left was a lifeless form, a doll without its stuffing. Sky's eyes were closed. Link got the feeling that the bird didn't want to look back at him.

Next, the boy hefted the wolf and put him on the mattress. His chest rose and fell with raspy breaths, so at least he was alive. Link couldn't look too closely at his head, or he would get nauseous. He could, however, tell that the bleeding had already stopped. He felt the urge to help the injured Billy somehow, but nothing came to mind. He shied away from asking the pirates for some potion.

Eventually, he settled on dragging the mattress next to the doorframe.

Once he felt that the two had been properly situated, he lifted the wooden bucket and went back out into the hallway.

He stepped on something.

It was a curved white pebble. Wait—no, it was one of Billy's teeth.

Link gingerly picked it up and set it on Billy's paw. Then he got to cleaning off all of the blood from the wall and floor.

He was too weak and stupid to do anything else.

Link spent three hours curled up into a ball. There were no tears; just a boy and his thoughts.

Several pirates passed by his door with the excuse of going to the bathroom, but none dared to come in.

With talons clicking against the floorboards, Sky made his way over to Link. He stood there and was silent for quite some time. Finally:

"How are you?" he asked.

"Okay." Link's back hurt from leaning on the doorframe, but he didn't move. Billy's head lay near his feet. "How are you?"

"Better," Sky forced out. He inspected the boy, surprised that even his minor injuries had disappeared. He sighed and sat down. "Link, I am very sorry that you had to see…that. I should have been in better control of my emotions."

Link shrugged. "It's okay. Everyone gets mad sometimes. Maybe," he offered, "If you didn't hide your feelings so much, you wouldn't have gone crazy. Grandma says it's never good to bottle up your feelings."

"That is very good advice," Sky said, a weak smile hiding amidst his features. Something about this boy was different from the rest, a sincerity that was greater than that of any other hero he had met.

"You guys talk too loud," Billy complained. He cracked one eye open, but he didn't move otherwise.

"Billy!" Link grabbed the wolf under his armpits and lifted him partway off the ground. "You're okay!"

"Heh." The smirk took a bit to form on his lips. Sky saw that he was missing a tooth and quickly looked away. "It'll take more than Feathers over here to finish me off." The eldest Link said nothing, stunned that the wolf hadn't gone for his throat yet. Billy wiggled a bit. "You can put me down now."

But Link had discovered Billy's fur. "You're so soft and fuzzy! He clutched the wolf like he was a plushie. "Like a warm pillow," he marveled. Billy wiggled a lot more, well aware of Sky's low snickering.

"Let! Go! Of! Me!" It took a great deal of movement to free himself from Link's grasp. After that, Billy had to deny several of the boy's attempts to pet him by chomping at any encroaching fingers. He made so to do it slow enough so that Link had time to pull his had away. The wolf's tail wagged a little. It wagged triumphantly when Link finally gave up, but he wasn't subdued for long.

"I wanted to ask you guys if you could help me with something."

"What is it?" Sky said cautiously.

Link took a deep breath. "I want to learn how to fight."

Billy looked at Sky.

Sky rubbed his wing tip against the underside of his beak. Link really needed to improve, and technically it could be considered giving him advice since that was their job so….

Billy and Link watched Sky mull it over for a while.

In spite of his justifications, Sky knew that this wasn't a good idea. He was already on the Goddesses' bad side for what had happened last time. This was dangerous territory—for him, at least. Someone with a clean record might be able to get away with it.

"Okay," Sky began. "But only Billy can help you with it." Ironic, really, how the wolf had a cleaner record than himself.

"What why?!" Billy's ears flattened against his head.

"You need the practice." Keep it simple. No one needs to know the entire truth.

A brief silence.

"…I guess I do," Billy mumbled to the floor.

The bird was thrown by his sudden submissiveness, but he didn't let it show. It seemed that he had not been the only one shaken by Link's near-death experience.

"I'll be there to supervise," Sky added, "But I can't—I mean, I won't do much else."

Link and the wolf exchanged glances. Billy shrugged.

"Kid, you sure about this? I'm not going to go easy on you."

Link grit his teeth. "What doesn't kill me makes me stronger!" he said with all the gusto he could muster.

The wolf smirked.

Nine of clubs.

Six of clubs.

Eight of clubs.

King of Hearts.

"Damn," Tetra muttered.

_Brm, brm, brm, brm, brm_.

Five of Diamonds.

Two of Hearts.

Four of Diamonds.

Ace of Hearts.

"Godsdammit," Tetra grumbled.

_Brm, brm, brm, brm, brm_.

Six of Diamonds.

Three of Hearts.

Seven of Hearts.

Queen of Spades.

"SONUVA—"

_Brm, brm, brm, brm, brm_.

"What the hell is that noise?!" Tetra rose and slammed her cards down on to the table. She had been playing cards with Nudge, Senza, and Niko in the dining room, and during the entire game that same low rumble kept rising and falling in volume, never completely disappearing.

Nudge arched his eyebrows. Niko gave him a slight nod. Both returned to their cards.

"What?" Tetra demanded. Obviously, they knew something that she didn't and that wasn't allowed on this ship. Niko looked at the other two for support. He didn't get it.

"It's probably just the swabbie again," Niko said as dismissively as he could, but Tetra's eyes narrowed all the same.

Link. She hadn't seen that damn kid for three days and yet her blood still boiled whenever the thought of him crossed her mind. That snot-nosed brat had disobeyed direct orders and he had wound up missing half of his internal organs. As captain, it hwas her duty to look after her crew, even no-good crap-for-brain swabbies. Still, it had taken several minutes of repeated "YOU HAVE TO USE IT OR HE'LL DIE!"'s from Nudge to finally get her to uncork the Blue potion, something she had considered a treasured family heirloom.

Now she didn't even have the bottle. Tetra shoved the chair away and headed for the door.

"Well I'm going to make him shut up," she snapped to no one in particular. She slammed the door shut behind her, then almost immediately opened it again to yell, "When I come back, we're starting a new game!"

_Brm, brm, brm, brm, brm_.

A low growl arose from her throat and she hurtled toward the source of the noise.

_Brm, brm, brm, brm, brm_.

She was close now. Turning into the cleaning supplies hallway, a foreign place to her, Tetra came upon Link straining to push a barrel twice his size across the floor.

Each roll of the barrel created a low _brm_.

Tetra folded her arms and watched him for a while before she said, "What the hell are you doing."

Link yelped and spun around, a guilty look on his face.

"N-nothing!" he spluttered.

Tetra glowered at him.

"Exercising," he admitted. He scratched his cheek, eyes cast downwards. "I need to get stronger to use my sword and shield right."

She had to bite down on a sharp retort, because once she started on a tirade, she wouldn't stop until she was spent. "And all this…" She waved her hand vaguely at Link. "Just occurred to you?"

His eyes darted to the empty space near the wall before returning to Tetra. "I'm really sorry about the Blue potion I should've listened to you but I'm trying to get strong so that I can help next time and not let my sister die!" he blurted out. "Also I'm not stupid! Usually!" He covered his mouth immediately afterwards, though it was a tad late for that.

Tetra stared at him. All snappy responses vacated her brain. "Yeah, well, just don't break the barrel….idiot!" she huffed. She had tagged 'idiot' on at the end because it made the whole thing sound more…captainy.

She turned on her heel and strode off.

"Ow!" She rubbed her ankle and furrowed her brow. Turning slightly, she didn't see anything except Link, who was staring at a space a little ways behind her. What a weirdo.

As Tetra passed the galley, she glanced around furtively before sneaking in. She walked out with a wooden spoon stashed away in her back pocket.


	11. A Small Respite

Author's Note: Did I say chapter 11? I meant 12. I don't count the prologue, so sorry if I disappointed anyone. Anyways, this is the last chapter I have completed since college began. Chapter 13 is almost finished but after that...I don't know. However, I will try my best and if the chapters seem poorly edited, well you know why. Anyways, what do you guys think about the spirit guides. I'm liking how they turn out, but there's still a lot of things to develop. Thank you for reading, please R&R, and enjoy the moment!

Billy wasn't kidding about the training.

He pounced on Link's sleeping form each morning to train him to go from zero to full throttle in a matter of seconds (didn't really work. After a while, Link just ignored him.). He made Link run back and forth in the hallway, sometimes sprints or rolling all the way, other times slow, steady jogs. He slobbered all over the boy's stuff to get him used to grabbing dirty Rupees from monster corpses (he didn't tell him this). He sat on Link's back and screamed at him while he did push-ups.

Ah, the screaming. He yelled like a true drill sergeant: often and as loud as possible.

"Clean gear, no tears! Keep your weapons and other stuff in good shape or you'll be screwed when you have to fight that big boss!"

"Shield high, you won't die! C'mon, lift it higher! I want to see you keep it there for ten minutes!"

"Foot speed gives you the lead! Let's go, kid! Twenty backflips aren't that hard! Faster, faster, faster!"

He didn't think that Link truly appreciated his clever rhymes. He put a lot of effort into coming up with those. When the boy gave him that blank stare, Billy took it as a cue to scream at him to train some more. This was something, he knew, that he could not afford to fail at.

And so the days passed. Cleaning, training, swinging…it all become one giant blur, a flurry of events in which several stuck out from the rest, some seemingly for no reason at all.

Day Seven: They sailed northwest, passing near Diamond Steppe Isle. Link stayed up all night on the deck, waiting to catch a glimpse of the fabled Ghost Ship that glided through these waters. Billy decided that he should run fifty laps around the deck while he waited. An hour and a half later, Tetra rose from her bed, called Link a bunch of mean words and told him it was the wrong phase of the moon to be looking for the Ghost Ship.

Sky said it was okay, that chances were that he'd come across the Ghost Ship on his journey anyway.

Billy told him that he still had to run the fifty laps.

Day Ten: During one of his free periods, Sky absentmindedly began to hum. It was a pleasant melody, gentle and comforting, yet full of significance at the same time. Completely foreign, but hauntingly familiar…

Lulled into the music, Link closed his eyes and let his mind drift. His foot had begun to tap to the beat.

"You have good rhythm," Sky told him.

"What's rhythm?" he asked.

Day Twelve: Link noticed that everyone was carrying around a spoon in their pocket. He was annoyed, because now he knew why he had had to eat his soup with a fork last night. Billy seemed to be pretty happy about it, though.

Day Sixteen: They passed Four-Eye Reef as they cut northeast across its quadrant. It was really far away, but everyone was still tense. Link's tummy itched a lot that day. He wondered how Big Link was doing.

Day Seventeen: Link was introduced to sea tales. Niko and Senza had a new, wide-eyed audience member who gasped, laughed, and demanded, "And then what?" in all the right places. Link was regaled with tales of Big Octos, Great Fairies hidden inside giant shells, and islands that people had seen but never had been able to explore, let alone uncover their secrets. He stayed up much later than he should have. Billy had let him sleep in the next day, which was devoted to pestering the pirates for more stories.

Day Nineteen: Tetra asked him about his training. He showed her the Spin Attack move he had been working so hard on. She asked if it was possible for her to learn it.

She didn't say anything mean to him that day.

Day Twenty-Two: Nudge taught him how to patch clothes and shoes. He gave him some cloth and a needle and thread to practice with. He wasn't very good at it, but his haphazard patches served their purpose.

Day Twenty-Five: They stopped at Greatfish Isle to replenish their supplies. It was the first time Link had ever seen another village before. It was really nice. He hoped that he could show Aryll it on the way home. She'd really like it.

Day Twenty-Eight: Mako made Link test out his newest invention: a machine that fed you. It failed miserably, and Link had to spend the rest of the day shoving a potion-covered finger up his nose.

Day Thirty-Three: He made it to the fourth platform today!

Day Thirty-Four: Zuko actually spoke to him. He said "Thank you" when Link gave him his laundry. This was eclipsed later on when Tetra said, "Thank you" for her laundry.

"The world is ending," Billy declared.

Day Thirty-Seven: He got invited to play one of the card games. They booted him out when he kept winning. It was because Billy kept telling him what to do and sneaking peeks at everyone else's cards.

Day Forty-Two: He got struck with a sudden bout of homesickness. He just lay in the closet the entire day, ignoring Sky and Billy's attempts to rouse him from his gloom. Someone kept walking past the closet, pausing to look in every time. Whoever it was made the spirit guides crack up with each pass.

Day Forty-Five: The shield didn't seem as heavy now. If he rolled up his sleeve and squinted hard enough, Link believed that he could see some muscle. Billy told him not to get too cocky; his own biceps were twice as big. Link reminded him that he was a wolf. Billy told him to drop and given him twenty.

Day Forty-Nine: Link beat the stupid lantern swinging test! Honestly, he didn't know why it took him so long. It was rather anticlimactic, really, with the way he had done it so easily. Billy's training may have been a contributing factor, as well as his developing calluses which blocked out most of the pain and rope burn. All he knew was that it didn't hurt as much anymore. Billy whooped and Sky laughed happily as Link stuck the landing on to the finish platform.

Niko's jaw dropped and his flustered appearance was worth the many hours spent on this dumb thing. He even got something for his trouble: a Spoils Bag. It was purple and had a creepy monster face design that he found just a little unsettling. Niko told him it was for keeping stuff found after killing certain monsters. Apparently, it had the identical holding capabilities of Link's pouch, except it only worked with monster spoils. Link imagined carrying the purple bird's mask home and displaying it like a trophy over the fireplace, delighting the entire village with his exploits over the beast. Oh yes, he would definitely keep this bag.

Niko offered to make some room for him in the _real_ pirate's quarters for him because he was a _real_ pirate now. Link respectfully refused. The real pirate was bewildered, but not for long, as he shrugged and bolted for the exit to spread the news of the ex-swabbie's accomplishment.

The boy held the Spoils Bag in one hand and his pouch in the other.

He looked at the Spoils Bag.

Then he looked at the pouch.

Now he looked at the Spoils Bag.

(He's on a boat.)

Hesitatingly, he put the Spoils Bag in the pouch. A grin spread across his face as he admired his handiwork.

"Now you're thinking like a hero," Sky chuckled.

The grin lessened somewhat.

However, it was back and wider than ever when he was not only given a whole serving at dinner, but he was also allowed to as many portions as he could stomach! The pirates sang a bunch of sea shanties and Gonzo used the celebration as an excuse to get drunk. Zuko gave Link a compass. Senza offered him a Sea Chart. Niko was too choked up to contribute much more than blubbering, "Swabbie's a real pirate now!" He got snot all over his sleeve. "And he actually did the laundry, too…"

There was mirth everywhere he looked. Billy was having a blast, gorging himself on food from the floor and from the plates if he thought the pirates were distracted enough. Sky had joined in on one of the less bawdy songs, once he had memorized the chorus.

It was like all of Link's birthdays ever rolled up into one. Except the soup was different. And his family wasn't here. But…this past month or so, the pirates had begun to feel like extended family in a way. Even Tetra was smiling.

For the first time since he had set foot on the pirate ship, Link took his constant worries about Aryll, his guilt, his frustration, and his anxieties about this "hero" label and shoved it all to the side. For the first time, Link let himself enjoy the moment. He laughed freely, but the sound caught in his throat. He realized that he had not laughed this entire journey. This struck him as funny, and the laugh returned in full force. Before he knew it, his sides ached and his lungs hurt and his eyes watered as his vocal chords vibrated with the sound of sheer joy: a boy finally allowed to be just a boy. Not a big brother. Not a diligent grandson. Not a fledgling hero. Just Link.

Billy snickered as he heard the boy snort with each intake of air, but Sky only looked on and wondered when would be the next time Link would be able to laugh like this again. He stopped singing and simply stood there.

Maybe he should give the Goddesses more credit; the cryptic smile on his beak hid the grief and pity that he actually felt.


	12. No Other Choice

Author's Note: Hey guys! Finally, the Forsaken Fortress! Here's the problem: I can't find the notebook in which I wrote all my ideas. Something has died inside of me. I don't know if I'll post any new chapters until I do find it. Sorry, guys ;-; But anyways, feel free to ask any questions. Chances are I'll answer them and wind up revealing future stuff, _. No big spoilers, though I swear! Please read, enjoy, review, and wish me luck on finding this dang notebook!

Fifty-one days, it had taken them to get this far. By tonight, they would be breaking into the Forsaken Fortress. Tetra stood beside Gonzo, who was handling the wheel, and chewed on her lip. The ominous tower in the distance put her on edge, and she was angry that it was able to have that effect on her. She tugged on one of the loose strands of hair that came down over her ear.

_Half a day before he leaves_, Tetra thought. _And then there's the trip all the way back to Outset_. She didn't feel as much irritation as there should have been. Well duh, once she got this kid and his sister out of her hair, she wouldn't feel so bad about the whole thing, yeah?

…yeah. That was all there was to it.

Speaking of Link, what was he doing now? Tetra's eyes wandered the deck until they found him sitting by a cluster of barrels. He was meticulously inspecting his sword, keenly cleaning it only to examine its surface after each bout of maintenance. After a while, he nodded to himself and sheathed it.

He noticed the shadow on the ground and greeted the girl with a polite, though emotionless "Ahoy, captain." without shifting his gaze from the ground.

Wait—she didn't even remember walking over here in the first place!

Well, she couldn't let Link know that. Captains always knew what they were doing. Her mom always did.

Tetra placed her hands on her hips and glowered at the top of Link's head. "Kid, are you sure—"

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"Wh-what?"

"I'm a real pirate now, right? I passed the test and everything. So stop calling me 'kid'. I'm what, three years younger than you?"

Tetra didn't know his age, and she sure wasn't about to tell him how old she was, so she ignored this and just huffed, "Well I'm the captain and I'll call you whatever I want!

Link said nothing.

Tetra narrowed her eyes and returned to her original question: "So do you think you're ready to take on the Helmaroc King?"

"That's what the bird is called?"

"Uh, yeah." She said it with a "well _duh_" intonation.

"Hopefully I won't have to." His eyes darted to his sword and shield. Personally, she thought one peck from the bird would do in that sorry excuse for defense. Still, what was with this guy? When he first came on board, he had looked like some sniveling kid. Now something was different. Not a whole lot different, mind you. Just a little. He looked people in the eye more, for one, and he wasn't as easily pushed around as before (thus, the dirty laundry pile was starting to build up again).

Tetra, unwilling to let the conversation drop until she felt like she was winning (Nudge once told her it was unladylike to be so competitive, but she had just ignored him), leaned over and looked at the Sea Chart he was now poring over. She wound up snickering.

"There's not a single island on that piece of crap!"

Link tried to stuff it into his pouch, but she caught his arm and wrenched it away from him.

"Hey!" he said. There, that was more like it. Tetra preferred an angry Link to an expressionless one.

"Calm down," she said rather snottily. Retrieving a chewed-up pencil from her pocket, she got on her knees, flattened out the Chart, and tapped the northwest corner.

"This is where we are now: the Forsaken Fortress."

The youth calmed down as soon as he knew that she wasn't going to do something stupid to his first and only Sea Chart. No matter how unhelpful it was, it was his, and he planned to keep it with him and look at it every day when they got back to Outset.

Tetra hesitated a second before placing her pencil on the thick parchment and drawing the outline of the Forsaken Fortress. Normally, she wouldn't have had the confidence to do this, but she had studied the island so extensively on other charts in deciding the best way to approach it that she felt that she had every angle and curve of it memorized.

"What's this yellow mark?" He scratched at a small yellow arrowhead in the quadrant, pointing toward the Forsaken Fortress.

"Don't touch that you moron!" Tetra slapped his hand away. "Everyone knows that all Charts are sprinkled with some fairy dust so that their magic makes the chart show where you are! That mark is us, idiot!" She was back in her comfort zone.

"Oh," Link uttered sheepishly. He rubbed his hand. "Where's Outset on this?"

Tetra rolled her eyes, doubtful that he had absorbed half of what she had just said. She stabbed a finger seven quadrants south and one quadrant east from the Forsaken Fortress.

"Can you draw it in?"

Luckily, she had been studying both islands, Outset out of sheer curiosity. Her mom used to talk about it a lot. Apparently, an old flame of hers lived there. Outset was much more irregularly shaped than the Forsaken Fortress, but she thought she had done a pretty good job when she was finished.

Link leaned in closer to marvel at his homeland, which seemed much farther away than he had first imagined.

"You're really good at drawing," he said.

Tetra's head jerked up, sure that that had been sarcastic. His face was invading her personal bubble, so she got a real good look at him. His eyes were a dark bluish-green, almost black. It reminded her of the insides of that forest she had been dropped into. His eyes were large and honest: he'd meant what he'd said.

"Whatever!" she spluttered and abruptly stood up, trying to saunter away as nonchalantly as she could.

"She's taken the bait," Billy said with a mischievous air. "Now all you have to do is reel her in."

"But I'm not fishing."

Billy snorted. Sky covered his beak in order to suppress a chuckle.

"You've got two eyes that can see, can't you? It's obvious that—no, wait. You know what? Never mind. I wanna see how this turns out. Fifty rupees says it'll be hilarious."

"What will be hilarious?" Exasperation colored the boy's voice. He knew he wasn't going to get a straight answer, but he had asked anyway.

"Think long and hard and you just might figure it out. You know what helps with thinking?"

Link's shoulders drooped. "Is it running?"

"Smart kid. Twenty laps 'round the deck let's go!"

Link sighed and jogged off. Honestly, he wasn't sure why he had bothered posing such a dumb question in the first place. He knew that it would only lead to more drills…and on the last day, too! Nonetheless, he had never complained. He knew that Billy was only trying to help him get stronger—and it was working! His sword swings were more powerful and he sometimes managed to just nick Billy's side in their mock battles. That didn't mean that the training wasn't hard, though.

_But I'm going to need every advantage I can get_, he thought balefully. A sense of foreboding had settled into his gut during the past week or so, telling him that, no matter how hard he hoped, the Helmaroc King was not going to be on a potty break when he arrived to save Aryll, and that they were going to have to go sword-to-beak.

He didn't even mind the fighting part so much anymore. This bird had become in his mind the epitome of evil, his version of the legendary hero's great foe. The bird had taken Aryll. It had made Grandma cry. Killing, in this case, was justified. In fact, the only thing about the Helmaroc King that really bothered him anymore was the obvious size disadvantage. There seemed to be a single option to conquer the disproportion in quantity, and that was to make up for it in quality.

Thus, whenever Billy told him to drop and give him fifty, no matter how tried, beat-up, or on fire he was, (a lantern had broken during one of his rougher passes on the swinging test) he dropped and gave him fifty.

Seven laps down.

"You push him very hard," Sky remarked.

"He's gotta be fast if he doesn't want to wind up as bird food." Billy flicked his ear.

"You seem more concerned about it than he does."

The wolf pointedly ignored him.

_Damn bird_ _doesn't know when to shut up_. Of course he was worried. The kid had been gutted like a cucco fresh from the slaughter on his watch. He had to make sure that he was strong, because Billy himself couldn't protect him. Just the thought of that horrible feeling, like the time he had collapsed from exhaustion in the drifts of Snowpeak—except a hundred times worse—made his fur stand on end. No. Never again. The kid was ready now. He had to be.

"ne."

"Huh?" His eyes unglazed and he saw Link standing before him.

"I'm done," the boy repeated. He was breathing quickly, but not the ragged gasps from a month and a half ago. He was skinnier, the loss of baby fat hinting at the lean, elfin face that lay beneath. Shadows were beginning to form underneath his eyes, a touch of hardness added to his features that hadn't been there when the trip had started.

Billy was struck by how unnervingly similar the kid was to himself. Over time, that face would get more and more severe, the body more wiry due to stress and lack of food. How many more days until he started with every loud noise? How quickly would he forget how to smile?

It felt like a hole had just been punched through his chest. Billy watched the young grow sadder, Sky watched the old grow more sorrowful, and Link watched them both, and did not understand.

The atmosphere was disturbingly normal for approaching the notorious "Hell on the High Seas", the old hiding spot for a crew of infamous pirates that had terrorized the Sea…until they had killed one another out of sheer greed, that is.

The sunset was just like any other. The pirates joked around like they always did. Senza made stew, secretly because he knew that it was the ex-swabbie's favorite. Nudge completed knitting another scarf, this time with seagulls on it. Tetra, Mako, Gonzo, and Niko played cards. Tetra lost. Just another day on the pirate ship.

…for everyone except Link. He had gone below decks as the foreboding island gradually grew closer. Now he sat in the closet, seated on the crummy mattress that he had never gotten used to, back against the far wall. Sky sat beside him. Billy patrolled the hallway outside, a habit he had developed several weeks ago.

Link looked down at where the red telescope rested in his lap. It felt odd, knowing that they would finally get to where Aryll had been waiting for the past month and a half.

The Helmaroc King had flown through his thoughts more often as the days had passed. Each time, it had grown in size. Link sighed.

"Do you think you're ready now?"

"No," he answered without looking up. "But I think this is the best I'm going to be in the time I have." He angled the telescope so that the seagulls on the surface seemed to blaze a bright white in the fading light. He wanted to talk to Big Link again about this hero thing, but he hadn't seen him since Link had "died". So he had to do the next best thing.

"Sky?"

"Yes?"

"Is it okay if I become a hero for a little while, just long enough to save my sister? I don't want to save the world or anything. I'm not good enough to do that. I want to go home and drink soup and take off these stupid clothes. I want everyone to be happy again," is what he wanted to say, but the words got stuck in his throat. He had seen on the Sea Chart how far away they were from Outset and for some inexplicable reason, it terrified him. In the effort it took to force the words out, they somehow got mangled to the point that he wound up saying, "Can you sing another song?"

He seemed to have caught Sky off guard. "Erm, what should I sing?"

Rubbing his thumb on one of the telescope's seagulls, he shrugged. "I don't know. Something happy?"

The bird had to think about that for a bit. He skimmed through his catalogue of all the tunes he had accumulated as a hero and as a guide. Let's see, young, untested hero approaching the first of many trials…yes, that should fit.

"My friend used to sing," he said. "I'm by no means as good as she was…is." He tapped his talons against the boards, his left wing making wide, consistent sweeps through the air. It looked like he was strumming something. Then, he began.

A chipper fluting came from his beak and he started prancing about Link, wings open wide. The song was brisk, cheerful. It made Billy halt in his pacing and Link's eyes brighten. The words themselves were mostly garbled sounds to his ears, but he caught the gist of the words. From ancient Hylian, the words were translated as:

_Leaves of the fo-rest so green…_

_Help you to face the unseen…_

_Ga-ther your cour-age take a breath and dive right in…_

Link felt his anxieties lift a little and he clapped in time to the music.

It was possible that Sky was dancing a specific set of steps, as he bounded out into the hallway, startling Billy. Enraptured, Link got up, put away the telescope, and eagerly followed after the bird. His voice was a tad off-key, but the tune he was singing to was catchy and revitalized the youth.

_Look ahead,_

_No regrets and the world is yours…_

A graceful leap past the galley now.

_Draw your sword, raise it high,_

_All your fears are gone…_

Here Sky attempted to spin around while standing on one foot. His claws proved to be inappropriate footwear for the occasion, and he fell flat on to his rear. He flapped his wings self-consciously. "Ah…that's it."

Link burst into applause. "That was really cool! I actually feel better now."

Billy, who had been following them at his own damn pace thank you very much, reached the two and raised an eyebrow. "The hell was that?"

"It's called Farore's Courage." He gave himself three seconds of preening under the boy's awed gaze.

"Farore," Link said. He frowned. "Who's that?"

The spirit guides stared at him incredulously.

Ultimately, Billy said, "The green one."

Link just looked even more befuddled.

"You…don't know the goddesses?" Unease welled up in Sky again. Where was Hyrule?!

"Godesses? Like, girls? They can be gods too?" Link rubbed his nose.

Billy's eyes slid to Sky: _You can handle this one_. Sky wasn't sure if he was comfortable with the wolf relying on him for backup. He cleared his throat.

"Link…"

"Hey! Link! We've reached the Forsaken Fortress! Hurry and get up here!"

The boy's eyes narrowed and his face suddenly grew harsher. He gripped the hilt of his sword, which he had been afraid to even touch before, and walked past them. All traces of happiness had fled his new demeanor. Billy trotted after him, muttering, "Finally. I'm frikkin' sick of this goddessdamned boat."

The bird watched them go for a few seconds before diligently following. Yet another matter shoved to the side in the face of a present ordeal….

It got really old after a while.

Up on the main deck, the sun had completely disappeared from the horizon and night had settled in. It seemed darker than usual. Everyone was tense now, and Link wondered if they had been faking bravado throughout the day. They acknowledged him with nods when he passed by. Walking forward, he came upon a rather disgruntled Zuko near the ladder leading to the crow's nest.

Zuko reached out and put a hand on his shoulder. He squeezed and nodded: _Good luck_.

"Hey! Link! Here I am! Up here!"

That…Link wasn't going to miss that when he got back to Outset. Zuko gave him a lopsided smile and stepped back. Link returned the smile weakly and ascended the ladder. His mind was racing. Was it a giant castle? Maybe it was made of all black stone, real gloomy-like, with torches on every tower? Or a big dungeon, or…

Billy's head was tilted upwards in annoyance as he glared at the crow's nest. "Tell me what it looks like!" he called up to the boy. He circled about the mast and clawed the ladder, oblivious to the start he gave nearby pirates when the sound of his nails digging into the wood rent the air.

When Link finally got to the top, Tetra immediately started to nag him. He didn't listen to that anymore, so he tuned in when she said, "There's something you need to see! Have a look over there…" She gesture toward the spectacle in front of them with ill-hidden irritation.

"That's the cursed isle known as the Forsaken Fortress."

Link's stomach took a dive. The Forsaken Fortress was huge, bigger than any building he had ever seen. Its slate-colored stone was piled high into several well-fortified towers and battlements. Large brown tube-things shot beams of light around the Fortress. If that wasn't ominous enough, half of a ship was crammed on to the topmost tower, as if some monstrous being had rent the ship in two and had smashed the front half of it on to the tower for decoration.

"There are all sorts of strange rumors about this place," Tetra said. She tended to babble a bit when she was nervous. Link was at a loss of words. He had to sneak into _that_?

"It doesn't look so bad," Sky clucked. "I was expecting a lot worse."

Link stared at him.

"Now, the place looks like it's pretty dangerous. Ah! I knew it! Look! Over there! By that window!" She tended to throw interjections around like no tomorrow when she was _really_ nervous. Tetra pointed at a small window. Link took out the telescope and zoomed in.

"Have you ever seen so many seagulls flock like that before? I'll bet you anything that's the place where they've got your sister locked up!"

Yes, that had to be where Aryll was being kept. Even in this place, the seagulls remained her constant companions. His lips curved slightly upwards. That meant she was still alive, thank the gods.

"…But it looks like the whole place is under really tight guard. This won't work…We'd be spotted before we got anywhere near landing there." Tetra furrowed her brow. "Hmmm…What do we do now?"

Then a roguish look appeard on her face and a smirk broadened her lips. Sky shuffled his feet in trepidation. That smirk was disturbingly similar to Zelda's. The part that made him ruffle his feathers was that after that smile, she had pushed him off of a giant statue waaay up in the air.

Link had been so intently thinking about Aryll and how the heck he was going to kill that bird, it was HUGE, that he did not notice that they had stuffed him into a barrel until he had been loaded on to the catapult.

"WHA—" His voice cracked with panic. He threw himself against the insides of the barrel, but in a cruel twist of fate, he was not strong enough to push it around as easily as from the outside. Holy gods, they were going to launch him off of a catapult, they were going to launch him off of a catapult at the Forsaken Fortress and he was going to die, he was going to die in a barrel in the Forsaken Fortress because these pirates were absolutely INSANE!

"Look, don't struggle." Easy for her to say! "If you really want to get into a dangerous place like that, this is the only way to do it. Don't worry about it! It'll be a piece of cake." She gave him a reassuring wink.

"No I'm gonna die!" Link snapped, and continued to thrash about in the porky-smelling barrel. Billy was scrabbling at it himself, but it soon dawned on Link that he wasn't so much trying to get him out as he was trying to get himself in. Billy eventually gave up and simply dug his claws around the metal hoops encasing the barrel. He grinned at Link, tail wagging once again.

"Relax, kid. I've been shot out of a giant cannon a bunch of times. It's not that bad."

Sky didn't look that much concerned, either, instead examining the Fortress with a practiced eye.

Oh, great. They were all crazy!

"Is everyone ready?!" Tetra felt the need to yell. She turned to Link one last time. "Never you fear, kid. We're pros. We're going to launch you good."

"I'm going to die," he replied.

"3!"

Fear turned him to stone, terrified that oh gods, this was actually happening.

"2!"

Well, he wasn't going to die here, not when he was so close. A grim determination was now his main expression, face set and eyes narrowed.

Sky nodded in approval and returned to inspect the angle of trajectory for—wait.

"1!"

Come on already. Eyes squeezed shut, Link was too buy mentally preparing himself to hear Sky's yells.

"Link get out of the barrel! The angle is off they're going to miss GET OUT OF THE—"

_WOOSH_.

"AAAAAHHH!"

"…barrel." Sky hung his head. Heaving a heavy sigh, he spread his wings and took flight. Several pirates were waving goodbye, and Sky took the liberty of clipping each one with his claws before he turned and headed towards the Forsaken Fortress.

The wind whipped past Link at incredible speeds. It would have been exhilarating if images of a bloody imprint splattered against an unforgiving wall weren't flashing through his mind.

The wind made it hard to breathe, but he managed to scream anyway. Billy was enjoying this, letting out a long "WHOOOOO!" as they soared through the air.

His "WHOOOOO!" quickly dissolved into an "uh-oh". The window leading to Aryll's cell was over there and the barrel was hurtling at the wall over _here_.

At the last second, Billy jumped off of the barrel. Whether it was from self-preservation, or if he was trying to push the barrel toward the window, Link didn't have time to contemplate. The barrel exploded upon impact and he was flattened against the wall.

Billy winced when he heard the kid's head hit with a loud CRACK. As he was falling, he turned to keep an eye on the—

"WHAT."

Did his sword…

"THE HELL?"

…just go flying…

"HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE."

…all the way up to the top of the tower.

"WHAT THE FUUU—"

Splashdown.

_EEK!_

_A cry of panic. Where?_

Bubbles exploded from his mouth and nose. The water was dark and GODDESSES WHAT WAS WITH THE SALT?!

Flailing around, he could just barely make out the faint light of the crescent moon. Then a dark object obscured his view, growing bigger and bigger until

GWOOlooosh.

The kid landed in the water and sent Billy tumbling deeper into the darkness. The kid wasn't moving, and he continued to sink.

"_Link help I—" "The water—"_

_The shard was in her hand. He was human again_.

Moving toward Link as fast as his wolf body permitted him to, Billy soon realized that he couldn't push the kid upwards in his current puppy size. He butted him in the head to try and wake him up. No response.

"_Can't you just float?!"_

"_No I—" "Scared—" "can't—"_

_Scared?_

His lungs were burning. Air bubbles were coming out of the kid's mouth and nostrils a lot slower now. Numbness in his own nose. Billy's lips curled back in a snarl and he slammed into Link's forehead as hard as he could. WAKE UP, DAMMIT!

The world broke out into stars and for a second he just hung there in a daze. Okay, so he still hadn't fully recovered from Sky repeatedly smashing him into the wall, but at least it got the kid up. His eyes opened, eerily pale in the light. It took him half a second to grasp that he was underwater, immediately after which he made a push for the surface. The wolf shook his head to clear it and swam up with him.

_Tiny hands dug into his arm._

"_Don't worry. I got you."_

_Sob, sob._

Air. He sneezed out what felt like enough salt water to fill Lake Hylia. He saw the kid standing on a stone platform rising above the water, bent over in exhaustion.

He paddled over to the platform and pulled himself on to it.

"_We're on land now. It's okay."_

_A small, stinging punch._

"_Don't ever do that again!"_

"_What—they set the bridge on fire the hell was I supposed to do?!"_

…

"_Besides, why are you so scared if you can float?"_

"_We don't have big bodies of water like this in the Twilight Realm, okay?"_

_She was still clinging to him. Shaking, even._

"_Okay."_

Friggin' pirates just had to miss and make their job ten times harder. He shook out his fur. However, he was still damp, and as a wolf that was really annoying because it made his skin itch like crazy. He shook again. Water got on the kid, but he was sopping wet anyway, so he didn't care.

Billy scanned their surroundings. No monsters in the current vicinity. All clear. The sky was illuminated with those weird funnel-light things. A red speck was circling above them. Apparently, the lights didn't mind him.

It was go-time now. He glanced at the window all the goddessdamned way up there, where the kid's sister was trapped, and probably wouldn't be rescued for a mad long time if the goddesses had their way. His eyes darted to the kid, who was swordless and in his opinion, kinda screwed.

"_Okay. I won't ever let it happen again."_

The middle Link gritted his teeth. "You ready, kid?"

The youngest Link squared his shoulders, forehead still red from all the crap it had been through in the past few minutes. "Does it matter?"

Billy laughed hoarsely. "Never."

"_I promise."_


	13. Smells like Pork

Author's Note: Would you believe me if I told you that I wrote this entire chapter today? That's how much I appreciate your reviews and how much you guys seem to enjoy this story. Plot holes, plot schmoles, it's too fun writing for me to stop. Also, have you guys ever heard the theme for Outset Island on electric guitar? It's beautiful. Just thought I'd mention that. Anyways, please read and review, and thank you!

"No."

"Whaddya mean, no?"

"As in, I can't."

"'Course you can. Just flap up there with your big-ass wings and grab it."

"I can't interfere."

Link could almost sense Billy flicking his ear.

"Oh come on. Do you expect him to bash monsters with that telescope? He's screwed. No offense, kid."

"It's true," Link said mildly. He had been wringing water out of his hat while this conversation had been going on.

"I've had to sneak around without any of my items before." It seemed that Sky as back to his calm old self. "He can do it."

"He's twelve!"

"Actually I'm eleven.

"That's what I said!"

Link sighed. This wasn't getting them anywhere. He might as well start walking and see how he could get to Aryll from here.

Then his butt started to vibrate.

"ACK!" he yelped. He fumbled around with his tunic, trying to figure out what the heck was doing that. Almost by accident, his hand slipped into a hidden pocket. His fingers brushed against something rough and cold. Clasping the violently vibrating object, he pulled it out and his eyes widened in confusion. Billy and Sky stopped bickering and came over to investigate.

Light seeped through the cracks between Link's fingers, and when he opened his hand, a pale blue stone was revealed. The ghostly light it emitted somehow fit in with their gloomy surroundings. A leather cord was bound around the stone so that it formed a makeshift necklace. Judging by how worn the leather was, this stone had been in use for a long time. The weird part was that it was floating in the palm of his hand. Scratch that—the weird part was that Tetra's voice was coming out of it.

"Your sword landed all the way up there? Shoot!" She dissolved into crasser curse words. Why was this rock talking like Tetra?!

"I'm sorry! I apologize! I guess my aim was off a little bit."

Even if it was just a blue rock in his hand, Link was still mad. He narrowed his eyes and simply said, "You missed."

Suddenly, she started cracking up. Link's eye twitched.

"Heh heh…The look on your face…priceless!" More laughter.

Billy was growling now, a constant sound in the background. The boy felt like he should be growling too.

Eventually, he heard a sniff and a "hoo" and the pirate captain continued. "Heh heh…I slipped this stone into your pocket just before we fired you over there."

"And you missed!"

"It's no ordinary stone, either."

Very, very tempted to chuck this stone at the wall. She wouldn't even let him yell at her properly.

"I can see what you're doing through this stone, and obviously you can hear me through it."

"Then you should see that I am not through the window! I'm at the bottom of the entire Fortress! I have no idea where I am!" Sky raised a wing to signal that he was getting too loud, and he just managed to curb his voice before he was full-on yelling. And she just kept talking! On and on and on about some quest or button or something.

"Hey, but listen carefully!"

She would say that.

_Well she did apologize_, a thought mumbled in the back of his head. _And she only said that she could see me. She probably can't even hear me. _His anger subsided a bit.

"I need this back after you save your sister, so don't go losing it, you understand?!"

He lied about the subsiding anger thing.

For an answer, Link jammed the stone back into his newly discovered pocket. "Lose it my butt," he growled. He stalked off, keenly aware of the weak throbbing in his forehead. He clomped up the nearby set of steps rather loudly. The sound rang off of the walls, but it didn't seem to draw any alarms. Reaching a slightly higher platform with some barrels, he made a sharp turn to the left and kept climbing. His simmering anger kept him from realizing that her voice had actually sounded concerned throughout the entire thing.

"Whoa, slow down there kid." Billy bit the edge of Link's tunic and yanked backwards. The youth stumbled and almost sat on top of the wolf, but he righted himself at the last second. A giant beam of yellow light swept over where Link had just been.

Sky shook his head. "Careful, Link. If those lights land on you, the entire Fortress will know you're here." Billy gave him a _really, you're telling him this now_ look.

The entire central courtyard was being patrolled by two of these giant beams. He saw a flight of steps leading to the rest of the Fortress, but he'd have to get across the courtyard to reach them. Craning his neck higher, he could see that the steps would also have to be reached in order to get to one of the searchlight towers he had to turn off.

He chewed the inside of his cheek. How was he going to do this?

Sky was looking at him curiously, face blank. He wanted to know what his solution would be to the first of many puzzles. Link's eyes slid to the wolf, who he noticed was gagging in an attempt to get the remaining salt from the landing out of his nose and mouth. Was it really that salty? The barrel had reeked of old pork. Link tried to imagine if everything smelled like the insides of that barrel in an effort to empathize with Billy.

Wait.

A light in the boy's head turned on. Sky swiftly ducked out of his way as he proceeded back down the steps. Sky knew that look.

"They would notice if I was moving around," Link said slowly. At the far end of the platform stood the barrels he had previously stormed past, similar to the one he had been launched in. He rapped his knuckles against one of them, producing a deep, hollow sound. Turning toward the guides, Link could tell from Sky's face that he had the right answer before Link even asked his question.

"…Would they notice a barrel?"

"Wait. Wait. Waiiiit."

The searchlight swept past.

"Okay go go go!"

Billy nudged the barrel, causing two small feet to emerge from the bottom and walk in the direction that Billy and Sky pushed it in. The barrel was heavy, so the boy inside of it could only move as fast as a slow waddle.

"Stop!" Sky said sharply. The legs disappeared and the barrel dropped to the ground, kicking up a small puff of dust which Sky quickly dispersed with his claw. This place was dirtier than Pipit's house, and that was saying something. He secretly wished that he had his gust bellows so he could clean up a bit.

The searchlight sluggishly moved toward, then over the barrel. Although they were invisible, it still unnerved the guides when they were bathed in the yellow beams.

"Go!"

The barrel waddled.

The guides walked on either side of it, nudging it occasionally to set it back on the correct course. Initially, Billy had aimed it for a Red Rupee that was just sitting there in the middle of the courtyard. However, Sky had noticed that the Rupee was placed so that the two beams crossed over it on their patrol paths, almost like a trap for unwary trespassers. He had soon steered Link away, on a safer route to the main staircase.

Now, Sky cleared his throat as they gradually made their way towards the stairs. "Billy."

"What. Kid, stop."

The bird had been working on this for a while. Hopefully, it would work. "I…I have to apologize for my violent behavior towards you before on the ship. It was completely out of line. I—"

"I deserved it."

Sky froze. That answer had not shown up in any of his hypothetical scenarios. "You…"

A paw scuffed the barrel and it waddled off. Billy followed, not looking at Sky as he replied, "I was stupid. I shouldn't have locked you up and it's my fault the kid almost died. I would've beaten me up, too."

He glanced at the bird over his shoulder. His expression said _that's the best you're going to get out of me. Now drop it._

So Sky dropped it. A little anticlimactic, but it was much better if Billy seemed to have learned a lesson than if he tried to use Sky's beak for a chew toy (This ending had occurred in a third of his scenarios).

Eventually, they made it to the staircase. Unfortunately, the lights covered a good area of it on their rounds. The group's progress slowed to a crawl here, as Link struggled to climb a good number of steps before he had to stop, which on an uneven surface was difficult to do. Sometimes, the guides had to lean against the barrel to keep it from tumbling back down.

After an agonizing fifteen minutes, they were out of the lights and Link squirmed out of the barrel with a gasp of relief as fresh air entered his nostrils. The smell of pork had been disturbingly stronger in this barrel, almost to the point of being nauseating. Did the Helmaroc King eat pigs?

He coughed a little and looked around. A hallway was in front of him, but to his right was a stone ramp that wound its way upwards towards a search tower. Clenching and unclenching his fists, the boy made his way up the path.

The night seemed darker in this place, and the air had a faintly sour smell to it. Even the wind seemed ill at ease. All of these things came together and made him nervous. Thus, when the stone vibrated again as he reached the tower ladder, he leaped a bit into the air and a small cry of shock made its way past his teeth. But he was still too mad to talk to her now, so he stubbornly ignored it as he went up the ladder. Sky took flight to scout, and Billy uttered a curse upon ladders and all of their children.

Link thought of the watchtower back home. This one was much smaller, barely a challenge.

The stone ceased its pestering when he reached the top. At the center of the tower, a large, wooden box was sitting atop several gears (he only recognized them from Mako's workbench), were spinning and allowed the giant brown tubes atop the box to move around.

Sky returned, his face a tad anxious. "There's a Bokoblin that's manning the machine."

Oh.

The boy was surprised with himself that he had not considered the possibility that he would have to fight anything besides the bird. That was stupid of him, but a sense of dread arose in him all the same.

He tried to recall what Big Link had said about heroes only killing to protect people.

_This is for Aryll_. That thought would have to be his justification.

Now what the heck was going to be his weapon? His sheath didn't strike him as the best weapon. Hand-to-hand combat was out of the question.

A purple vase caught his eye. It stood in the corner, and in it were two large sticks of some kind. Link peeked at Sky, who merely shrugged. Tiptoeing in the direction of the vase, he caught a glimpse of the Bokoblin. It looked almost identical to the ones he had killed in the forest. He didn't like that at all.

Grabbing one of the sticks, he gingerly tried to pull it out. But he was small. The vase was almost as tall as he was, and the stick was heavy. An alarmed hiss came out of his mouth as his tugging on the stick caused the vase to tip over. A loud cracking reverberated around the tower. Down below, Billy's fur bristled.

The Bokoblin's ears pricked up and it pressed a button on the machine. The tubes went upwards into the air, twisting in on each other so that they only illuminated sky. The Bokoblins in the other towers took this as a "On break, gotta pee" signal and ignored it.

But the Bokoblin did not have to pee. It brandished its own stick and went to investigate the source of that noise. When it saw a little human in a green dress, it screamed. Yellow hair and pointy ears! A girl had escaped the cell!

Taking a deep breath, Link lifted the stick. It was heavy, so he could only use it with two hands. That took his shield out of the equation. He drew upon all the words Billy had shouted into his ears as the monster began to charge.

_When you're facing something head-on, sidestep and get a good shot at its back while it's exposed!_

Okay. Sidestep. He had done that so many times up and down the hallways that he didn't even have to think about it. He skipped to the right as the Bokoblin rushed by. Taking a big swing with the stick, he let out a "Yah!" of exertion and smashed the beast's spine. The monster went sprawling, yellow eyes wide. Link walked up to it.

_When you knock a monster to the ground, that's the best time to finish it off! If it manages to get up again, that's one more chance it gets to kill you_.

Gripping the stick until his knuckles turned white, Link closed his eyes and brought the stick down upon the Bokoblin's head. The wet cracking noise made his throat spasm.

But he couldn't stop there. He had to make sure it would never be able to turn the searchlight back on. He repeatedly brained the monster, never looking at it. Soon, his arms began to burn and his back ached, but he just kept swinging.

He didn't know how long he spent doing that. Only when Sky said, "Link, stop. It's dead." did he cease. The stick dropped to the ground with a hollow clattering noise. Link slowly opened his eyes.

The head was a smear across the floor, any gore made unrecognizable by the blackening of the entire corpse. Link gagged anyway.

"You did a good job," Sky said consolingly.

Link didn't respond. He felt like crying.

He robotically moved to the ladder and began his descent, leaving Sky to wonder if, just a little, the heroes who did not hesitate to kill were the strange ones.

"It's a piece of paper!"

This entire place made no sense to Link. It's like they couldn't afford the wood to finish building the floor, so there was a big gap in the middle of the room through which he could see the lower floor, and there was only a lantern on a long rope to help cross it. How adept the monsters were at rope swinging, he didn't know.

When Link had entered this room, he had seen a big treasure chest across the gap, so he naturally swung across (too easy) and opened it. All that had been in there, at the bottom of this big thing, was a crackly roll of paper. A waste of such a fancy container, in his opinion.

"It's a map. It's very useful," Sky said.

"A dungeon map," Billy grumbled. Then louder, "Hey Feathers! You know what's useful in dungeons? A sword." Underneath his sarcasm, the wolf was perturbed that something like this would be considered a dungeon.

Daintily holding the edges of the map by the tips of his fingers, Link turned it this way and that in an effort to make sense of it. He wasn't even sure where he was on this thing. "But why would anyone leave a map here?"

"It's…best not to question these things." Translation: Sky had no idea.

Link shrugged and carefully put the map in his pouch. Another souvenir, he supposed. A hallway nearby led to a dead end, with a square hole high up on the wall. Weird.

He just took the lantern back across to the side of the room that he had come in from. Sky went to grab Billy by his scruff and carry him back over, but the wolf flinched away.

"I can do it myself," he growled.

Sky looked at the gap, then eyed him with an annoyed air. "No you can't."

A spark lit in Billy's eyes. He hated that phrase deeply. All logic vacated his brain, and now he was determined to do this. He backed up against the far wall, surged forward, and leaped with all his might.

To his credit, he almost made it.

He could tell that he was descending too early, but he merely bared his teeth as a response. _Dammit_.

Instinctively, Link leaned forward and grabbed for his paws. Both the guides' eyes grew wide and they cried in unison, "No don't—!"

But Link's hands were already holding tight to the wolf. Link realized his mistake too late, as the weight of the wolf dragged him downwards, as well. He was leaning too much into the gap to steady himself, and both fell to the first floor of the Fortress.

The impact knocked the air out of Link's lungs, and the two lay there for a while. Sky groaned inwardly as he landed beside them.

"I could have carried him back up," he said as if to vent some of his frustration at just how badly this whole escapade was going. "But I can't do that for you, Link."

Billy rolled on to his belly. "Ugggh…kid…why…"

Link covered his eyes with his hand, still on the floor, and screamed at himself internally. It sounded something like: AARGGHSJFSNVSKNLKF. He did this for about three minutes before he pushed himself up. Another stupid mistake of his, but he'd have to get over it. Aryll was waiting.

There were only pots in this room, with a table to his right. Two doors were on opposite walls. Picking one at random, he struck forward again.

He wandered the fortress for a long time. A bunch of rooms were barren. Others had empty cells.

One cell was not as empty as the rest. A treasure chest stood behind the bars and curiosity had driven Link to seek out a way to open the cell. He soon found a large switch hidden amongst a group of barrels in the corner, reminiscent of the one he had stepped on so many times to activate the platforms in the lantern swinging test. When stepped on, this switch caused the cell door to swing wide open. He ran into the cell and eagerly heaved the lid of the chest open. He regarded the object inside with confusion, unsure of what it was.

It looked to be a large white heart, with a smaller red one at the center. Billy seemed really excited when he saw it, and Sky explained that it was called a Piece of Heart.

"You know the little red hearts you sometimes find?" he said.

"Yeah," Link replied. He ran into those on Outset sometimes. The children collected them because when they were eaten, they tasted sweet and made your whole body feel a little better. "Grandma says that they're little pieces of happiness."

"That's true in a way," Sky admitted, then continued in a lecturer's voice, "Pieces of Heart are like bigger pieces of happiness, when enough good experiences have occurred in a certain area, they gather and fuse into a Piece of Heart. For every four Pieces of Heart you get, your stamina increases."

"You mean every five, right?" Billy butted in.

"No. I mean four."

Billy stared at him. "I hate you."

Link reached into the chest. "So these things are good?"

"Very."

"But why would a Piece of Heart be in this place?" The surface of the Piece of Heart was smooth like glass, yet felt like the warmth from underneath a blanket. Something flashed in his mind's eye, an image of a group of men and women at a table. Link dropped the Piece of Heart in astonishment. The image faded.

"The experiences can be from long ago," Sky said faintly.

Hesitantly, the boy picked it up again. The image returned. There was a fire nearby. The men and women were dressed like…pirates. Their faces were frozen in states of laughter and amusement, hands clasping full mugs and plates heaped with food sitting on the table. Link inexplicably found himself smiling.

"Feels good, doesn't it." Billy looked up at him, and for a brief moment, he looked just as old and sad as Sky. But that soon passed as he padded out of the cell and sat near the door, waiting for the boy. Link put the Piece of Heart into his pouch and continued on. He felt a little better.

Some rooms later, he walked into what appeared to be sleeping quarters. He thought of the Bokoblin whose brains he had dashed against the tower floor. Had one of these beds been his?

There were other things of interest in the room. A chest sat on one of the beds, and a creepy rendition of a Moblin was set up on the wall to his right, above a large door. It was as ugly as the real thing. Link automatically placed his hand over his gut.

"I don't like that thing," Billy said.

The youth nodded. He walked toward the chest, planning to take its contents and move on to the next room. As soon as he stepped into the middle area of the room, the Moblin statue came to life. It twisted its piggish head to face him, and its eyes turned red.

It shot lasers at him.

"HOLY GODS!"

Link had never seen lasers before. He saw that they burned the ground wherever they touched, so he bolted across the room, the chest forgotten in his haste. The heels of his feet felt uncomfortably warm, which he took as a sign to keep running as fast as he could. He jumped on to a ladder near one of the bunk beds and quickly scaled it. The sharp noise that accompanied the lasers abruptly disappeared; Link had escaped its range. The boy sat on the bed and tried to catch his breath.

Billy did not resist when Sky hoisted him up.

"Why is this place so crazy?!" Link whispered vehemently. He was scared that the statue would hear him if he spoke too loudly.

"Strange things happen in dungeons," was the blithe response. Though unsatisfactory, the lack of an impact that the laser-shooting statue had on the guides spurred Link on. He felt like he had to prove to them that he had learned from his training and was able to do this. He got up and kept going.

He opened the door, then immediately closed it. Two real-life Moblins were patrolling around in there! Okay. Calm down. He doubted that he could face two of them and win. From his track record, he couldn't even face one. He would have to sneak past them.

Opening the door again, he saw that yes, there were some barrels. He bit his lip and focused on slowing the thundering in his chest. Billy and Sky edged through the doorway and stood next to the closest barrel. It was comforting to know that they would be there to direct him through this. Deep breath. One was on the far side of the room, and the other just turned around.

He sprinted for the barrel and quickly got underneath it. Hopefully, these pig guys were as dumb as they looked, and then some. Darkness reigned inside of the barrel. The air instantly grew stuffy and this one was the worst-smelling one yet. He doubted that he would be eating anything from a pig anytime soon.

A small nudge to the left. Link pushed up against the top of his makeshift disguise and shuffled in the direction Billy and Sky pushed him.

Outside of pork hell, Billy and Sky were trying to figure out how to get their ward past these monsters. The timing was going to be tricky. It appeared that the Moblins were befuddled as to why there was suddenly a barrel in their way, but they didn't seem to care too much.

"What if we went left, then right while that guy's over there?" Even though they were nonexistent to everyone except Link, Billy still felt the urge to speak in a low voice.

Sky ducked under the spear of a Moblin as it swung over his head. "No. When that monster is over there, the other one is just starting to turn around. He'll see us." The guides had to huddle around the barrel in the effort of avoiding contact with the guards.

"I could distract one of them," Billy mused. He licked his teeth.

"No."

Ear flick. "Then what do you wanna do, huh?"

Any answer Sky was about to provide was cut off by an encroaching rat. It was nearly skeletal in the sense that the bird was able to pick out each individual rib on it. Its whiskers were frazzled and its black fur had turned purplish with illness and malnutrition. It had sunken yellow eyes and brittle, though very sharp, claws. It sniffed around the edges of the barrel, scratched at it for a bit, then scampered away.

"What was that?" A muffled voice said from inside.

"Just a rat. Wait a little longer. The guard is going to pass by soon."

As the Moblin turned on its hoof and started to walk toward them again, the rat returned. Apparently, it had gotten a running start and now it flew through the air. Billy and Sky could only watch in dismay as, with an astonishing amount of force for such a small body, it slammed into the barrel and toppled it over.

Of course, the Moblin heard. When it saw two little legs flailing around, it immediately chucked the lantern it was holding at the barrel, setting it alight. The intense heat got Link to scramble out, only to find himself at spear point with one of the Moblin. The last thing he saw was its big meaty fist hurtling at his face and then he was gone.

Billy managed to chew up one of the monster's legs before Sky pinned him down.

"Link will get himself out of this when he wakes up. You must not interfere."

Foam was gathering around the edges of the wolf's mouth, he was so enraged. "The bastard's going to kill him!"

"If the Moblin was going to kill him, he would have done so immediately. He's taking him to a cell." Indeed, the Moblin picked Link up, swung him over its shoulder, and walked off.

Billy didn't launch any new assaults as they tailed the beast, but the snarl never left his face.

Link came to when they threw him into a cell. The stone floor felt cold against his cheek. His head was having a hard day. When he stood up, he immediately had to sit back down because the world was spinning too much. From beyond the bars of his cell, he could see two Moblins sitting at a table. He listened to them as he rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. Their voices were deep and thick, as if they were speaking with a lot of spit in their mouths. Their words came out like grunts, and they snorted a lot.

"Hurr, hurr. We gots one of them girlies. Master will be happy."

"Maybe Master will give us big reward, hurr. More roasted seagulls, hurr." Several snorts arose at the thought of their favorite delicacy.

The sound of a chair moving. One of them probably got up. "Let's take him now! I want roasted seagulls!"

A low, angry grunt. "No stupid Moe! My shift's not over yet! Big Joe will take my snout."

A whiny snort. "But seagulls…"

"Wait until I done with my shift. Then we go."

Not-Moe stood up. "You watch him until I come back."

"Okay…hurr…"

Link blinked his eyes clear. Now only one Moblin sat despondently at the table.

"Are you okay?" Sky asked. He was on the other side of the cell, the side with the Moblin.

Something beside the boy shifted. A shaggy head rose up. "He's in jail. What kind of a question is that?" Billy had seemingly snuck into the cell in the short span of time that the Moblin had opened the door to throw Link in.

Link grasped the wooden bars: they were rough and decrepit. He struggled to break them apart, but for such old construction, they held firm. His shoulders drooped and he wedged his forehead in between the bars.

"How am I going to save Aryll now?" he wondered aloud. Sky and Billy didn't respond.

A loud scuffle arose from the next room over. Not-Moe came back with another, smaller, Moblin. The smaller Moblin's face was bruised and it wasn't struggling.

"Bo was listenin' in!" Not-Moe screamed. "He was goin' to give the girl to master!"

"Wasn't we going to do that?" Moe asked.

"He was going to give the girl to master WITHOUT US!"

That warranted a squeal of rage from Moe. He stood up and turned so that Bo was obscured from Link's vision. The screams and thuds and cracks that ensued told him that they were killing Bo.

Link closed his eyes.

Then there was silence.

"What do we do know?" Moe asked.

"Turn that barrel over."

A barrel was turned over. A loud thud. They had put something into the barrel.

"Is it good to leave him like that?"

"Of course, dumb Moe! There's always somethin' dying around here. That's that the barrels are for in the first place, idiot! Now stay here and wait until I come back!"

"Okay…"

The door opened and closed.

The rotten pork smell that Link had had to deal with this entire time was back.

_It's dead Bo_, Link thought.

He squeezed his eyes tighter and tried not to scream.


	14. Just Visiting

Author's Note: I can't even right now. I don't know what happened with this chapter, but I don't like it. Maybe because I hate the Forsaken Fortress in general. I should be getting Pokémon Black 2 in two weeks so maybe that'll keep me sane. But I digress. Thanks so much for reading this, you guys. It really makes my day when I see that a review has been posted. I apologize beforehand for the crappy editing on this one. Read, review, enjoy, and don't forget to sleep for eight hours each night. (Ha! Eight hours. I'm so funny.)

Moe was in love.

He was very much in love. Her name was Maggie.

She had big brown eyes that looked like meatballs and a large mole and her hair was lanky greasy, like the noodles he had for dinner on occasion—oh, and the cutest little snout!

Moe missed Maggie. She was all the way up in the jail tower, because the big scary bird had captured her for their master. Luckily, Maggie was not the girl he was looking for, so now Moe could sneak visits to her all he wanted.

Well, except for right now. He had to watch this dumb girl until Shmo came back and they could turn her in.

The Moblin clutched the little burlap sack Maggie had given him as a token of her love. Compared to his big meaty fists, her delicate fingers were absolutely adorable, one of the few things of beauty Moe experienced in this Fortress. She smelled like the best things in the world; Moe always got starry-eyed when she described the magical "trash cans" that she used to root through for food on a regular basis. She promised to show him these wondrous containers once she got out. Moe wasn't sure when that would be.

Moe snuffled the sack. He thought of the other girls that his darling Maggie had to be stuck with. There was a blue girl there, and for some reason the seagulls always showed up around her. That was weird because seagulls rarely ever were seen inside the Fortress. Oh well, more roasted seagulls for Moe. Stupid birds were getting harder to catch, though. At first they had had an entire feast of seagulls, even though the screaming blue girl had been annoying while they had been catching them. Nowadays, the seagulls fled as soon as any monster walked in.

Then there was that other girl, the one whose bright pink dress had 0riginally made Moe's eyes sting (but it was all dirty now so it wasn't as bad), whose shrill voice hurt his ears, and whose sickly sweet smell burned his nose and throat. Maggie said that the smelly girl always said mean things about her when Moe wasn't there. Unfortunately, Moe was unable to do anything about it, since the whiny thing fled to the back of the cell every time he approached it.

The thought of his Maggie being bullied by something so hideous filled him with anguish. What if she was getting bullied right now?!

Still holding the tiny sack, Moe abruptly stood up, toppling the stool he had been seated on. Yes, that's what he would do! He'd go to his love and give her a Skull Necklace! It was the best plan his simplistic mind could think of.

He made a lot of Skull Necklaces in his free time. A small crafts book had been discovered in one of the storage rooms, along with a bunch of supplies. One of the smarter Bokoblins managed to interpret some of the pages. The monsters had taken to it almost immediately, with Bokoblins making Joy Pendants and Moblins making Skull Necklaces at a rapid pace. Beads and string had become the main currency: ten beads for an extra serving of food, two skulls for a roasted seagull—unless you're trading with a Bokoblin, but what kind of Moblin would?

Indeed, the crafting rivalry between the two was quite intense. Only wimpy monsters carried butterflies around their necks! Skulls were brutish and only the dumbest monsters could wear one without feeling embarrassed! A Moblin would never be caught making a Joy Pendant, and a Bokoblin would rather "barf hearts" (slang for dying) than craft a Skull Necklace.

But Maggie liked his pendants. She said they were pretty. Moe's snout twitched with excitement at the prospect of seeing her for the third time today. But ugh, what about this green girl?

"GIRL!" the lovesick Moblin bellowed. His tiny eyes roamed the cell, but he could not find the prisoner.

The girl was missing! Wait no, there she was. He could see her feet sticking out from behind the bookcase in the far corner.

"GIRL!" he repeated.

Slowly, a head appeared. There was a sense of vacancy in the human's expression that creeped Moe out. He oinked.

"I'm going to do somethin'. You stay here!"

The girl said nothing, only stared. Then, as slowly as before, her head withdrew until it was once again blocked by the empty bookcase.

Moe rubbed his right shoulder to get rid of the goosebumps that had suddenly appeared there. He snuffled some more, grabbed his spear and lantern, and left.

On the way out he noticed that the rats were already swarming the barrel Bo was in. Crazy rats attacked any kind of container they thought food might be in.

Well Bo wasn't his problem anymore. He was off to see his true love. Surely he would be back before Shmo's shift was over. And then…food!

Stay here. Where was he going to go?

Link rolled his head so that it pressed against the side of the bookcase.

"Now's your chance, kid! Let's get the hell out of here!"

Link didn't answer. He didn't have to. Billy had been examining the entire cell floor for hours with no avail. Digging didn't work. The bars were too strong. His latest escape plan apparently involved pacing until he managed to wear a hole through the floor.

The boy could hear it resume with his silence.

Vaguely, he felt as if he should help in the escape endeavor, but right now he was just trying not to throw up. They had killed one of their own kind at the slightest provocation. They didn't seem fazed by it at all.

Link had initially clutched the Piece of Heart in an effort to use the sense of joy to keep him sane, but after a while the smell of Bo's body and the feasting of the rats had penetrated the happy memories contained inside the Piece of Heart. The stench was almost unbearable now; that was why he was sitting as far away from the barrel as he could.

Why did Billy complain about salt all the time if he could tolerate this smell? Sky hadn't said anything about it either.

_It's because they're heroes_, Link answered himself. _They're used to dead things_. His eyes slid closed, the rotten odor so intense that he was barely able to think.

His mind was swimming now. Bile rose in his throat. Since he was surrounded by such a powerful stink, he became hyperaware of even the slightest relief provided for his nose. Occasionally there were the tiniest changes in the still air, like the much weaker versions of the puffs of air from his old closet's porthole.

Porthole.

Link's eyes snapped open and he lifted up his head.

Sky was at a loss. They had been here now how many hours? He had spent that entire time planted in front of the cell, repeating to himself every adage about patience that he could think of. The smell he could tolerate, but he sure hadn't missed it.

The other spirit guide seemed to exhibit Sky's inner self: he was constantly pacing a set route around the cell, a brooding look growing with each complete circuit. His steps became so forceful that it looked as if he was assaulting the floor. Sometimes he would check on Link, but Sky never saw any reaction from where he was sitting.

Billy, sick of inaction, plopped himself in front of Sky, whose eyes narrowed ever so slightly.

The wolf jerked his head towards Link, arching his eyebrows.

Sky just shook his head. This was the boy's own trial. He had to learn to cope in his own way.

Billy pressed his forehead against the bars. "I have searched this entire damn cell," he said in a low voice. "And I've got nothin'." His paws dug at the ground in vexation.

Sky's eyes instinctively darted to his left. _Ah, damn it_.

"What," Billy said. It deepened into a growl. "What were you looking at." He flicked his ear.

"It doesn't matter what I was looking at," was the dismissive response.

The wolf pondered the possibilities. He remembered the cell in which Link had found the Piece of Heart. His hackles rose and a snarl rent his throat.

"There's a switch there!" he howled with rage. "There's been a frikkin' switch there all this time and you haven't pressed it!"

"I can't interfere." He was tired of repeating that over and over. He did not need an upstart guide to push the limits of his patience. Did Billy completely forget how violent he could get when he was provoked?

"You can't interfere," the younger Link spat through gritted teeth. "You keep saying that. He's practically a zombie and you…you can't in. ter. fere." He circled around before resuming. "Why can't you interfere."

"I can't."

"Why."

"I can't!"

"WHY?" Billy screamed at the top of his lungs.

"BECAUSE LAST TIME—" Sky screeched. His pupils were dilated and his feathers were standing on end. He saw the surprise in Billy's eyes. "Because last time…," he repeated weakly. He turned away, shame coloring his words. "Because last time someone died because of me."

Billy had no response for that.

How long they would have stayed like that is unknown. Luckily for them, a rough scraping was heard and they both turned to see what it was.

It turned out to be Link dragging a beat-up stool to the crummy old table in the middle of the cell. The guides simply watched as he got on the stool, stepped on to the table, and turned to the bookcase. (Sky personally thought that the previous owners of the Fortress must have been very considerate people if they had taken the time to supply their prisoners with reading material.)

Billy, for the first time, looked up at the top of the bookcase. "There's a pot up there!" he exclaimed. How had he missed that?! Whatever the case, he excitedly bounded on to the table.

Link backed up to the far end of the table, ran, and leaped for the bookcase. Fear shot through him when the thought he was going to land just short of it, but then he managed to snag the edge with his fingertips. His feet scrabbled for purchase, found the lower shelf, and he hoisted himself up.

"Have fun doing that over lava."

"What?"

"Nothing," Billy said and landed beside him.

Link shook his head. Half the time these guys made no sense whatsoever. Turning to the large, dusty, purple pot that sat on top of the bookcase, he tried to see if anything was behind it. He thought he saw something, and in his eagerness to get away from the dead body, he gripped the pot and lifted it above his head. The pot was surprisingly light and behold! It had been obscuring a hole in the wall!

Now the question was, what was he going to do with this pot? Billy was occupying the rest of the space on the bookcase, and he couldn't well set it back down in front of the hole.

"Throw it," Sky and Billy said simultaneously.

Link felt bad breaking someone else's pot, but in this case he supposed that he had no other choice.

"Sorry," he mumbled to no one in particular, and he threw the pot. It went sailing a bit before shattering against the floor into many little pieces. A single green rupee lay amongst the destruction.

It was alarming how satisfying that had been.

Link turned to examine the hole. It looked to be a small tunnel leading…somewhere. If he crawled, Link believed that he would be able to fit. But…

He turned to Sky, who was on the other side of the cell. The bird paused, then walked over to the area where Bo was decaying. He slipped behind him, there was a _CLUNK_, and the cell door swung open. Link watched him enter the cell.

Billy ground his teeth. He glanced at the boy, who saw in Sky's face such apologetic sorrow that it doused the rage that had been building up in him.

Link said what seemed to be the guide's mantra: "You can't interfere."

Sky nodded, the sorrow deepening.

And that was that. Link looked at the crawlspace, then back at Sky. "How are you going to go through?" No time for anger. Aryll was still up there somewhere.

Sky shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "I'll have to be pushed through," he said in a barely audible voice.

Both of them looked at Billy. The wolf's ears flattened against his head and he hunched over. "Ohhh no! No no no no no no!"

"I hate you. I hate you I hate you I hate you."

"Stop talking and push harder."

Link coughed. This small tunnel was very dusty. He was in front, followed by Sky, who had entered rear-first so that Billy had to use his face to shove Sky's beak and not his butt. Using his elbows to pull himself forward, Link silently thanked the gods that he was not claustrophobic. Already the smell was weakening in strength, what a relief.

Soon Link could see a light at the end of the tunnel, causing him to crawl faster. He barreled out of the opening, not realizing that it was actually carved high up on the wall, and landed on the ground with a resounding thud. Yes, he was in pain, but dead Bo no longer clogged his nostrils and he didn't care!

Pushing himself up, he saw Sky's tail poking out of the hole. Then his butt.

"Wait I don't think there's ground out here—"

With one last shove, Sky was out of the tunnel and on the floor in a heap of rumpled feathers. Billy spilled out after him, though his landing was much better. He shook his fur out and announced, "I am never doing that again."

Sky glared at him. Billy pretended not to notice.

A weak laugh came out of Link. Funny. He had just escaped prison. More tired than anything, he carried on. Hopefully, he would never have to smell pork ever again.

The Helmaroc King was lonely in his nest. Sure he had tons of Kargaroc minions, but they didn't exactly offer any stimulating conversation. When he wasn't flying around capturing little girls, he was sitting in this nest, waiting for his master to send him out again.

Or to punish him.

He had brought back the wrong girl again, and that meant another session of painful torture at the hands of his master. The Helmaroc King never struggled; that just made it hurt more.

However, he didn't mind as much this time around. He liked this new girl. She was different from the others. Her mouth was oriented differently from the others, curving upwards instead. The little white birds really liked her, and she laughed a lot.

She spoke of many things that fascinated the Helmaroc King, such as the island one which she lived, or the wonders of sunlight. She talked about trying to learn how to balance pots on her head, pigs, and crabs. Most of all, she described to him her grandma and big brother. The bird was duly impressed and intimidated by this big brother, the list of credentials that the girl defined creating a rather imposing figure in his mind. The Helmaroc King was curious as to what exactly the bravest, smartest, coolest and strongest guy in the whole wide world looked like, but at the same time he despised him. The girl constantly mentioned how he was coming to save her, faith unfaltering as the weeks passed by. This boy might be coming to take the girl away, this girl that was the one source of joy in the Helmaroc King's life. Her words and laughter reminded him of his past life, back when he himself had been human, awakening in him fuzzy images that had long been submerged in darkness.

No, he refused to let this boy take the girl away, no matter how brave or cool he was. Paranoia seized the bird. What if he was making his way to her right now?!

Another visit wouldn't hurt. Master had already hurt him today, and he was finished preening to cover up the new gouges and lacerations in his flesh, so maybe it was time to feel happy today.

Spreading his wings, the Helmaroc King took off.

"No."

"Link you have to."

"NO!" he hissed violently. Cracking the door open, he scanned the room once more.

It was a large room, with an old shipyard visible from below. Three wooden catwalks were located on Link's current level, shaped like a U. At the base of the U was a small set of stairs leading to the door Link needed to get to. On each arm of the U patrolled a Moblin. Link was located on the far end of one of these arms. And there, just to the left of where Link was peering out of, stood two barrels.

"I can run when that Moblin turns around," he speculated.

"You're going to get caught," Billy said bluntly.

Link flinched and shut the door. "Not of I run fast enough!"

"And what if you don't?" Sky asked. "You'll go back in the cell."

The thought of Bo made the boy's stomach writhe. Killing the Bokoblins in the other two search towers had been bad, but he had made it through them by telling himself that at least it was better than being in that hellish cell. The boy hung his head. "But…"

"Link," Sky said as gently as possible. He touched his wing on Link's leg. "You have to get in the barrel."

Link shuddered, but no longer objected. Billy felt bad for him, but what other choice did the kid have?

Opening the door again, Link swiftly stepped into the room and donned a barrel. The smell inside wasn't as bad as what the cell had been like, but it reminded Link that something dead had been in here once.

_I would have cried two months ago_, he suddenly thought. _What happened?_

A shove and he was waddling again.

_Is that bad that I don't cry?_

Was that a nudge? No, probably not.

_What's different now?_

"Link STOP!"

One of the guides got in front of him and pushed the barrel, hard. Link automatically dropped to the ground, heart thundering. He strained to hear if something was going on, but all he got was silence.

"…_don't...move_."

Why was Billy whispering so intensely? What was happening?

Outside of the barrel, Sky and Billy stood perfectly still, Sky's feathers standing on end and Billy's ears flattened against his head. They had nudged Link to stop, but the dumb kid had kept walking. Fortunately, they had gotten him to halt just as the Moblin guard saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and whipped around to see what it was. All he saw was a barrel that he could've sworn hadn't been there before. Then, of course, the damn thing lurched right over to the barrel and started sniffing at it.

If Billy wasn't so worried about the kid, he'd have latched on to the Moblin's snout and torn it right off. He could see Sky staring at him, hard golden eyes almost yelling _I swear to the goddesses if you do anything right now_…

The Moblin kept sniffing the barrel. There was…something weird about this barrel's smell. However, something had recently died in it so that stench was covering up most of the peculiar scent. Huh. Whatever. He had a job to do. The Moblin stood up and started to walk past.

Just then, a rat appeared.

Billy's eyes grew larger as it approached the barrel and smelled it. It began to claw at the barrel. The Moblin turned around to watch it. Billy kept staring at the rat, leaning so closely to it that his breath was disturbing the rat's mangy fur, attempting to mentally communicate with it: _Don't you do it. Don't you do it you sonuvabitch!_

The Moblin walked back to the barrel. He reached out to lift it up.

Sky snapped.

"NO!" he roared. Billy scrambled back upon instinct. Reaching out with his long claws, Sky seized the rat and with what appeared to be little effort, crushed its skull. Some gore splattered against the barrel and the floorboards. Pivoting on his other foot, Sky turned and chucked the rat into the shipyard water below, screaming "FUCK YOU!" as he did so.

The Moblin watched the rat go down with astonishment. Billy gaped at Sky, who was breathing heavily. The part of the wolf's brain that wasn't in a state of shock urged him to ask, "So how is that not interfering?" but the rest of him wanted to live, so he said nothing.

Sky gave himself three good breaths before he tapped the barrel and muttered to it, "The Moblin is distracted. Move quickly." The barrel, who at this point was very, very confused, shuffled forward as fast as it could. Billy's mouth was still hanging open.

The Moblin was peering over the edge at the rat carcass, wondering what kind of new invisible monster had done that. Well, there was no harm in it now. A rough push of the shoulders and the Moblin joined the rat for a quick swim. Billy ambled off, thinking _Yeah, I can do that too_.

Link managed to get out of that room without any other…occurrences. When he bumped into the door, he took off the barrel and edged out.

FRESH AIR! It was beautiful after all those terrible, terrible rooms. He was outside now, below Aryll's tower (he could tell because of the seagulls). Three consecutive flights of steps led to a wide stone courtyard, from which grew a long ramp that finally seemed to lead to the top of the tower.

The wind was weaker up here for some reason. Looking upwards, the sky was as dark as when he had started, as if time had not passed. A dim orange light passed by, up on the courtyard. A Moblin was on patrol here. Link unconsciously hugged the wall.

Hunching over, he crawled up the stairs to avoid being seen by the beast. His mind wasn't so much focused on the monster as it was on the barrel he would have to hide under. Sky flew up to the conveniently located barrel at the end of the stairs, while Billy stayed behind to watch the Moblin for Link.

Up on the final set of stairs, Link knew he wasn't going to use the barrel: he could dimly see a black, crooked hand sticking out from the stop. The reek of death pervaded the air. The boy was secretly relieved, as well as repulsed. He could see Sky edging away from it, eyes focused on the Moblin, mentally calculating the best route to take.

Link made it up the stairs just as the Moblin reached the barrel, pivoted, and began the second half of its circuit around the other half of the courtyard. This incited a flurry of wing beats from Sky, communicating, _Go go go!_

Link didn't even look notice this; he had bolted for the ramp as soon as the Moblin's back had been turned. A boy clad in green and two invisible animals, one a giant red bird and the other a small gray-brown wolf, sprinted across the barren courtyard.

The Moblin didn't notice.

They continued a steady pace up the ramp, Link keen on getting away from all corpses as well as saving his sister. He had put up with two months of hard labor on a pirate ship and a bunch of dead bodies—heck he had almost even _died_—to get to this point.

Hopefully he'd find his sword there, too. Otherwise, if the Helmaroc King showed up…

Suddenly, a gap in the path.

This place had the dumbest construction ever. Like, the path continued on perfectly fine right over there! Why was there such an obnoxious gap here? On the side of it closest to the wall there jutted out a sliver a stone, a measly excuse for a ledge.

"Can you…," Sky ventured, "Hang on to it by your fingertips?"

Link inspected his fingers. Then he looked at the drop below the gap. He shook his head.

Billy surveyed the area. "Do you see anything? Vines on the walls? A switch you could push? Monkeys?"

Sky flapped a wing. "Wait. What did you just say?"

"Maybe I could sidle across," Link pondered.

Sky flapped the other wing. "I'm sorry what?"

"Well I mean you'd need a whole chain of monkeys. Goddesses know what I had to do to get enough of them. Had to spank a bigger monkey."

"If I stand on my tippy toes and hug the wall I might be able to edge over. I practiced doing it a lot to try and sneak up on pigs."

Sky flapped both wings. "All I'm hearing is monkeys and something about slides."

The other two ignored him. Link placed his back against the wall, sucked in his gut, and sidled across the minute ledge on the very tips of his feet. Sky and Billy viewed this with begrudging admiration.

"Damn," the wolf muttered. "Wish I could do that."

"It would have been useful on occasion," Sky admitted. Without looking, he reached out and grabbed Billy's scruff. A low whine snuck out of the wolf as the bird ferried them across.

On this side, Billy started cracking up. He gasped, "H-His face! Do you see it? Kid! Kid you look like you're friggin' constipated!"

The look of sheer concentration on Link's face did resemble that, but Link blocked it out. He was busy trying not to slip and fall to his death.

Finally across the gap, he continued on, this time purposely ignoring Billy's snickering and Sky's words of comfort: "Don't worry, we all look like that sometimes. Usually when going to the bathroom I suppose but…" (This just made Billy laugh louder).

"Aw come on!" Link shouted as they reached a second gap. It was as if some omnipresent being had constructed this place to purposefully drive him insane. He sucked in his stomach and crept across again.

Two hearts floated on this ledge, just under Aryll's window. Link was tempted to shout her name, to tell her he was on the way, but he thought it was best not to risk it so close to the end. He felt bad as he had to step on the hearts as he crossed. It was like crushing a bubble underfoot, except with a little more resistance. They released a nice smell when they were crushed, which soothed the boy's frayed nerves.

This time, Sky waited until Link was finished before he grabbed the wolf, a little roughly, and went across.

Another climb, Link's stomach now squirming with excitement for the nearing of the end. Aryll was going to be so happy. She was going to love going home on a pirate ship.

Now, arriving at a circular platform. The (rather large) door to Aryll's cell was here! And there, on the ground!

"My sword!" Link exclaimed. A "FINALLY!" and a "That's a relief." arose from behind him. And the Helmaroc King was nowhere to be seen! Elation filled Link, and he couldn't help but jump with joy. This was it! It would all be over in a matter of minutes!

His jumping triggered an alarm.

A long set of mean-looking spikes shot up, blocking off his escape route back down the path he had just come from. A green Bokoblin awoke at the sound of the rising spikes, noticed Link, and yelled in anger. It had a large machete and a wooden shield that even Tetra would have admitted as crummier than Link's own.

Link stopped with the jumping. "Oops."

As the Bokoblin charged, Billy roared, "Well what the hell are you doing?! GET YOUR SWORD!" which triggered Link to duck under a machete swing and scramble to his weapon.

It was weird how much safer he felt with it, an outcome of Billy's combat training he supposed. Now that he had it, he was back in business. The machete came whizzing downward toward his shoulder. Link rolled to dodge, then kept rolling in a tight circle, until he came upon the monster's exposed back. Leaping back up and slashing at the same time, a long, bloody gash appeared on the monster and it was sent flying.

"Hell yeah, back slice!"

Okay, so it was kinda nice having his own cheer squad.

Upon impact, the Bokoblin had dropped its machete, which had wound up on the other side of the platform. Now weaponless, the monster was looking around for it in a panic. This was the perfect time to kill it.

But Link hesitated.

"Kid…," Billy growled. "What're you doing. Kill it!"

"It's not fair," was the response.

"What's not fair? Either you kill it or it kills you! What about that is—"

Sky promptly shoved a wingful of feathers into the wolf's face. "Just pretend we're not here," he said.

Link waited until the monster had retrieved its weapon before running in and delivering an onslaught of slashes. He tried to block out the livid red marks that he was carving into the creature's body.

_The first thing to go is the nose. If it starts turning black, the bastard's dead so pull back and save your energy for the next fight. 'Course this is assuming it has a nose. If it doesn't, well…_

The nose, which looked kind of like Billy's in a way, was indeed darkening. Link backflipped away, mainly because he thought it was cooler to do so.

The only direction the Bokoblin went now was downward. The sound with which its decaying body landed reminded Link that he was supposed to be feeling nauseous right about now.

And he did, but not as much.

Then something happened. With a squelching sound, something rose out of the Bokoblin's back (which was facing skyward). It was colorful, which was the first thing Link noticed about it. It continued to rise until it floated just above the corpse. It was…

"A butterfly?"

Sky inched closer. "A butterfly necklace," he corrected. He turned to Link. "You should take it."

There, now he was feeling just the right amount of nausea. He recoiled. "But it just came out of the body!"

"It's considered spoils," Sky explained. "Someone you meet just might have a fondness for these…butterfly necklaces. They'll give you something nice in return." He said 'they will' instead of 'they might'.

Link didn't like this at all. But Sky was so intent on this that he was sure that the bird wouldn't let him proceed until he took the thing. The boy shot a desperate glance at Billy. Billy looked away. _Whatever man. After I killed a ChuChu, I ate it._

Gradually edging closer to the corpse, Link darted out his hand, grabbed the pendant with the tips of his fingers, and quickly shoved it into the Spoils bag, making a face all the while. He wiped his fingers on his tunic, though they felt grimy no matter what he did. Sky nodded and spread a wing towards the door.

Taking a deep breath, Link placed his hands on the door and heaved.

Inside was a room. That's all he had time to notice because then he saw his little sister. She was petting a seagull. Almost as if sensing his presence, she looked up.

The sheer happiness in her expression made everything worthwhile.

"Aryll!" Link cried. A grin split his face. "I told you I was going to save you!" Billy stood beside him, wagging his tail, but Sky was looking upwards.

_BOOM_. The ominous noise of a giant animal touching down.

The Helmaroc King had come to intervene.

This was the moment he had trained so hard for!

So why wasn't his hand moving?!

Fighting an imaginary bird in his mind was much easier than looking up at the real thing. His hand only twitched in response to the bird craning its neck towards him. Billy was frantic now, running around Link and barking up a storm. "KID, MOVE! MOVE!" At the last second, he gripped the back of Link's tunic with his teeth in an attempt to do it himself.

Too late, as the Helmaroc King picked Link up like a gull with a crab. The boy was much heavier than the Helmaroc King had expected, but that was because the wolf who was desperately trying to cling to the boy remained unseen.

With a mighty pump of its wings, the Helmaroc King took off.

"BIG BROTHER!" Aryll screamed up after him.

Link screamed in response. No words. Just a scream.

The bird flew them to the very top of the Fortress, where the half-ship was built into the framework. There the Helmaroc King triumphantly displayed its prize. A man stood there, in a black cloak. Link was too terrified to process much. From the way Billy was hanging on, he could just see out of the corner of his eye.

Green skin….orange hair? WAIT—

A twitch of the master's head told the pet bird to get rid of the boy.

Pulling its mighty head back, the Helmaroc King flung the boy as far as it could in an effort to keep him away from the blue girl.

Link went screaming off into the night. Billy was screaming too; he had lost his grip.

Sky, who had just reached the opening to the jail tower, saw them fly into the distance. He sighed.

It may have looked like a peaceful scene to an onlooker: a little red boat, floating around in the middle of the Sea at night. However, the onlooker would have only seen what lay on the surface. If they had the blood of a hero flowing through them, they would have witnessed something slightly different.

A wolf, still dripping from the water, was running around in the boat. He was repeatedly shouting, "KID!" across the Sea. He didn't think that they would land so far apart.

A red bird soared high above, trying to pinpoint the boy's location. He spotted a speck of green amongst all of the dark blue and immediately flew back to the boat.

He touched down in the vessel and was straightaway demanded, "Did you find him?"

Sky nodded, reached for the rudder, and turned the boat in the direction of Link. "I'm glad he didn't sink," the bird said mostly to himself.

The head of the boat turned around. "Spirits, you have seen the boy then? Very well, I will proceed in this direction as quickly as I can." The boat began to creep across the water with agonizing slowness.

"He wasn't looking at either one of us when he said that," Billy said. He circled around, obviously impatient.

"I already told you. He can sense us, but he can't see or hear us." It was obvious that Sky was puzzled as to how the magical talking boat even managed to do that.

Billy didn't give a damn. He just wanted to get the kid out of the water.

After an hour or two of this slow, gradual, mind-numbing cruising through the Sea, the boat finally arrived at the body of a boy clad in the green of fields. His eyes were closed. His expression looked…dismayed.

Without a word of forewarning, the wolf dove into the water and started to push the boy into the boat. Sky grasped at the limp body and pulled it in the rest of the way.

"Now that we have retrieved him," the boat spoke, "I must ask that you turn me so that I face eastward. I know of a place where we can hide until he awakens."

Sky obeyed.

Billy nosed Link's arm. He shoved his snout under it, lifted it up, and let it drop. The lifelessness of the boy created in him all sorts of anxiety.

"He's not dead right?" Billy didn't care how stupid he sounded.

Sky tilted forward. He pulled back. "He's still breathing."

Some tension left the wolf's shoulders, but not all of it was gone. He shook his fur out and sat down. "So…now what."

Sky looked up at the moon and the pale clouds it illuminated. The Sea was vast before them, and they were tiny in comparison: a boat, a bird, a wolf, and a boy. Defeated, but not beaten.

"Now…it really begins."


	15. One in a Crowd

Author's Note: Hey guys! A shoutout to all the people in the northeast U.S. who lost power! Anyways, I'll be updating every other Tuesday now, since I'm getting so busy. I hope you guys like this chapter. Please read and review and hope I make it to my next class on time. Less than ten minutes? I got this.

Link found him in the desert.

Link hated the desert, by the way. He really, really hated it. After completing the first dungeon and getting the doohickey which was apparently key to getting the sword that was important to saving the world through some crap or another (it had gone in one ear and out the other. He had just nodded and struck out in the direction the guy had pointed him in), he had spent weeks trekking over the dunes. Monsters kept popping out of the sand in endless waves, it was hot, the sand got EVERYWHERE, it was _hot_…

So of course the second dungeon had to be here.

When his uncle wasn't in a drunken rage, he was always saying that Link was a smart kid. Always _had_ said, he supposed. He assumed that his uncle was dead after he had ordered Link to take his sword and shield and go on to save the princess without him. Link still felt that there must have been something he could have done for his grievously wounded relative, but had he arrived at Zelda's cell even a minute later, she probably would have been dead.

Even if his uncle did hit him sometimes, he was still his last living relative. And he only hit Link when he was drunk. Which was only every other day. Letting him go to rot in the catacombs underneath the castle hadn't felt like what a smarter, better nephew would have done.

You know what else made him question his intellect? How long he was spending wandering around this place. He had initially sprinted through the desert with his brand new Pegasus Boots, but then the heat had went and made even a slow crawl feel agonizing.

He had been just walking around the same area since dawn in search of some sort of respite before he went and tried to open the door to the next dungeon (it was sealed. Of course.) and, like, basically all he had to do—what he had completely missed for the past three or four hours (he couldn't even tell anymore. The sun felt like it was always right on him.)—was lift up a big rock. He was glad no one was there to tell him how stupid he was (he had said it aloud several times after discovering the rock anyway).

But yeah, that's how he had found him.

Soaked in sweat, Link had picked up the big rock and had grinned like a moron upon discovering that the rock had been obscuring the entrance to a cave. The prospect of shade, of relief from the unrelenting sun, had made him almost giddy with excitement. He had turned to chuck the dumb thing away when, there, at his feet, curled up like an infant, lay Small Link.

Well this was awkward.

Link just stared at him, dumbfounded, still hefting the small boulder. What the hell was he doing out here in the middle of the desert?! Exasperatedly, he cast around for another place to put the boulder. With nowhere else to put it, he let out a groan that sounded like, "UGGGH" and set it back in front of the cave entrance.

Sighing, he squatted down in the dust next to the smaller version of him. He couldn't very well leave him alone like that. He tilted his head a little. Small Link looked different. The hole in his abdomen was gone, for starters (that was good). He was a bit leaner. There were shadows beginning to form under his eyes. His hair was longer. And…

Link tentatively reached out to touch his shoulder, immediately withdrawing it upon confirming his suspicions.

He was soaking wet!

IN THE DESERT!

The teen had to shake his head in bewilderment. Wiping sweat off his brow (for what seemed like the millionth time), he gave up and sat down. His butt felt like it was on fire, but he was sick of standing. Small Link's face was scrunched up and it was shining with water. Or sweat. How he managed to stay so…saturated under these conditions was beyond him. Link squinted. Hold up. He leaned closer.

"You're crying!" he croaked. His throat was as dried up as his surroundings, and he hadn't really spoken that much since the last time he had encountered Small Link. This wasn't counting the people that he had found in random caves. Weird people lived in caves. You didn't hold proper conversations with weird cave people.

A sob came out of Small Link. He covered his face.

The sun didn't seem as hot all of the sudden. Link frowned. This guy was a regular fountain, from what he had seen in their past encounters. Then again, he had made him cry that one time. Man, he still felt bad about that.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Small Link seemed really upset about something. Like, twice that of last time.

He said something from behind his hands.

"What?"

The muffled words were repeated.

"_What_?"

"I COULDN'T SAVE MY SISTER!" He curled up even more and continued to bawl. In broken sobs, he told Link of how hard he had worked to improve his fighting skills, on how tired he got, but he wouldn't ever stop because he knew that it was all to help his sister. He talked about the mean things people had done that he had had to put up with. The next part he mentioned was intermingled with so many sniffles and wails that Link couldn't understand what he was trying to say. Something about dead…barrels? Then after that came the part with the most violent weeping, as he told in a strangled voice of how he had been there, right _there_ in front of her—how much skinnier and dirtier she had been!— with his sword and the bird was standing right there and h—h—he couldn't do ANYTHINGGG…

Link wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. The ground around the boy's face was turning to mud with all the tears he was shedding. This was really depressing. This guy was obviously unprepared for all the crap that he was going through. Link himself had been raised in a house that included two guards of the royal family (his father and his uncle) so he had been introduced to sparring at a young age. The monsters that he fought now were annoying, sure, but they weren't affecting him as much as Small Link. Personally, he thought that he could take on this big bird that he kept talking about. It didn't sound so bad.

Buuut apparently it was indeed that bad for Small Link, as he continued to weep quietly on the ground. His wet clothes seemed to be impervious to the glaring sun. They smelled funny, too. Link wasn't one to be talking, though. He would have to take ten baths to get rid of the reek he had already built up.

He tried to sneak a whiff of his armpit with as much subtlety as he could manage. However, Small Link decided that that was the time that he wanted to sit up. He saw Link hastily fold his arms across his chest.

Still sniffling quite a bit, he wiped his nose on his sleeve and mumbled, "I'm a failure of a brother…"

Link's eyes latched on to his face. "How can you say that?"

"Because—sniff—because I—"

"You're not dead yet, are you?" Link said sharply.

Small Link inspected himself. "I don't think so…"

"Then you're not a failure!" His eyes turned into steel. "You're still alive. You can still save her. So it didn't work out the first time. Get up and do it again! Crying won't do anything." The fierceness of his tone was mollified by the inconsistency of his voice, but he still got his point across. "Failures are people who didn't do what they had to do, but don't you count yourself as one of them unless you're dead, 'cause before that you can always keep trying." He concluded with a muttered, "Failures are the worst thing you could possibly be."

The tears and sobs had disappeared. Small Link set his fists on his knees. His face was set. "You're right." He sniffed one last time. "I have to keep going."

He said something else, but his words were inaudible. Link watched him grow transparent. Before he completely disappeared, Link saw him mouth the words, "Thank you."

Then he was gone, and Link was sitting alone in the desert.

"You're welcome," he said hoarsely to the air around him. He continued to stare at the small puddle of mud in front of him. He smiled halfheartedly. It was nice having someone to talk to amidst all of this isolation. A weak laugh came out of him and he heaved himself up. Honestly, he didn't know where this deep stuff he said came from.

The rock went flying and he collapsed in the cool darkness of the cave.

He would not speak for the next two months.

The wind was clean now. The air was fresh and clear.

"Link…"

His eyelids fluttered open, then shut almost immediately.

"Link…"

So tired…was he back on the pirate ship? It never rocked this much before…

"Pull yourself together, Link!"

"Oh shut up and let him rest, dammit."

"He can't hear you."

This time his eyes stayed open. Link got up, wincing. His whole body was sore. He looked around. They were in a grotto of sorts, the spirit guides were sitting on a small shore beside him, and…and he was on a boat! Since when did he get in a boat?! It was red, and old. The wood was worn smooth from age, though the paint remained vibrant. A figurehead had been sculpted on to the boat, but Link couldn't view it properly from his current angle.

"Well? Have you come to your senses yet?"

Link looked around. Who said that?

Sky was sitting on the sand. Billy was sprawled all over the place. His front paws kept digging a hole. It was rather large.

The figurehead of the boat turned around out of its own accord. It had been carved to resemble some kind of animal. Maybe a lion (but Link didn't know what that was. Everything to him resembled either a pig or a bird or a crab). The figurehead spoke again. "You are surprisingly dull-witted…"

HOLY GODS! Link yelped and fell back on to his butt. The figurehead laughed loudly, a deep sound.

"Hey! Say that again!" Billy growled. "You think trying to save someone you love is stupid? Let's see you try it you glorified log!" Sky wasn't saying anything to stop him. "You can barely move, dammit! I had to jump out and push you, you were going so slow!"

The boat kept talking, unable to hear the wolf's remarks. This only made the wolf angrier.

"Did I startle you? I suppose that is only natural. As wide as the world is, I am the only boat upon it who can speak the words of men. I am the King of the Red Lions."

"The King of Red Lions," Link mumbled to himself. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Billy snarling. His fingers twitched toward the hilt of his sword…

The King of Red Lions saw this and hastily said, "Do not fear, I am not your enemy." Link frowned. The sheer oddity of the situation awoke his curious side. Well, he might as well listen to what the boat had to say. He wrapped his arms around his legs and looked up at the King of Red Lions expectantly.

The King of Red Lions took this as a sign to keep talking. "Link, I have been watching you since you went to the Forsaken Fortress to rescue your sister."

"Really. Did you see him?"

Sky shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Then again I wasn't searching for a talking boat…"

"I understand how your desire to protect your sister could give you the courage to fearlessly stand up to anything... But such a bold attempt was foolhardy!"

"Hey! Hey! Foolhardy _works_!" Billy stamped a paw on to the sand in emphasis. Sky nodded vigorously.

Link wondered why they kept talking like the boat knew they were there. From the way he kept talking, he obviously couldn't hear him. Solemnly, the King of Red Lions said, "I suppose you saw him...The shadow that commands that monstrous bird..."

Billy went silent. Sky looked at him, then at Link. "What is he talking about? Who commands the bird?" Link only recalled a guy with green skin and orange hair. Was that important? It might be hard to redirect all his anger at the Helmaroc King to some fat guy in a black dress.

"His name is...Ganon..."

Link blinked. Was that supposed to mean something? Apparently, it did to Sky. He grew more sorrowful at this. "And so the curse continues," he whispered to himself. The wolf was glaring at the sand between his paws. He kept muttering, "I killed that bastard, I swear. I killed him, I _killed _him." His eyes went vacant. He was shaking a little. Whether it was out of anger or something else, Link was unsure.

"He who obtained the power of the gods, attempted to cover the land in darkness and was ultimately sealed away by the very power he hoped to command. He is the very same Ganon. The emperor of the dark realm the ancient legends speak of..." The King was sounding rather depressed. Did he mean the legend that Sturgeon had kept making Link memorize? Who knew that he was actually going to need to know it?

Sky's neck shot forward with sudden realization. "Ganon was _here_?" He looked around frantically. His head tilted dramatically to the side, eyes wide. "Where _is_ here?!" Flapping.

No one answered him. Billy was staring down the King.

Link began, "Wait. If he was sealed away then why does Sturgeon say that he came—"

But it seemed that once the King of Red Lions started, he didn't stop until he was finished. "I do not know why the seal of the gods has failed, but now that Ganon has returned, the world is once again being threatened by his evil magic."

"But didn't he come back bef—"

"Death is permanent! How the hell do you unseal that?!" Billy barked.

"Tell me, Link. Do you still wish to save your sister from him?"

Well of course he did! Link nodded vigorously.

"And will you do anything to save her?"

Boy, he could imagine. "Sorry Grandma, but to save Aryll I had to clean toilets for pirates and that was just too much." He nodded again.

"...I see." Everything he said kind of sounded disapproving. "In that case, I shall guide you as we go forward... advising you on what you should do, and where you must go."

The youth's eyes slid sideways. Billy was pacing up a frenzy. Sky's gaze was jumping around, as if trying to find some tiny hint in the area that would give him the answer he was looking for. Link returned his focus to the King of Red Lions. His offer didn't sound that bad right about now.

"Ganon cannot be defeated by human hands, let alone by what little strength you possess. The key to defeating Ganon is locked away in a great power that you could wield after much toil and hardship. Do you understand?"

Something something toil (what did that mean?) and hardship. Big words had driven him into Sturgeon mode, so he had only caught the last endings of the boat's words. Who knew magical modes of transportation could still be boring? Oh well, tactics for pretending to pay attention remained unchanged. He raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly like _yeah, that makes complete sense. You're so smart_.

"In that case, we depart! To the Great Sea!" The King of Red Lions turned to face forward. Link's heart swelled with excitement. The Great Sea! On a boat! With all the islands to…

They weren't moving.

Link waited a while. The boat just rocked in the Sea a bit. After what he felt was an appropriate amount of time, Link quietly cleared his throat. "Um…we're not moving."

The boat hung his head. Link felt a little bad now.

"...Ah, but I am getting ahead of myself," the King of Red Lions grumbled. "This is actually a bit embarrassing for me to admit, but..." He struggled with the next few words. Link almost wanted to apologize. The boat managed to continue soon enough. "Although I am a boat that possesses the power of speech..."

More struggling here.

Finally, he hung his head in defeat and uttered, "I possess no sail."

The boy reached out to pet the boat sympathetically, but then he quickly withdrew his hand, fearing that it might be in bad taste.

"And a boat with no sail can sail no seas."

Oh no. Link's pity turned into dread. He knew that tone; the boat was going to go on another spiel…

Words came out of the King of Red Lion's mouth but Billy's voice crashed through them and were the only ones that reached Link's ears.

The wolf had stopped freaking out just long enough to hurl some verbal commands at the boy. "Look kid we're on a new island. Red here wants you to get him a sail. Go buy that and anything else you might need."

"…But remember: there is no time to play. Come back immediately as soon as your errands are done," the King of Red Lion concluded.

Billy rolled his eyes. "Take your sweet time. Hell, I recommend it." _It's going to suck a whole lot more soon_, he mentally added.

Link hesitated. He glanced at Sky, who at that particular moment was absolutely fascinated with the way the waves lapped against the shore. This tended to mean that he agreed with Billy, but he didn't like the way that the wolf had phrased it.

2 out of 3. The guides had spoken. Perhaps Link would have taken the King of Red Lion's words into more consideration if he hadn't been so eager to explore an entirely new island.

"Spirits!" the King spoke. His deep voice resonated with authority. "I ask of you to guide and protect the child as he ventures out to purchase a sail. This, I, the King of Red Lions, humbly ask of you." He did not notice that the spirits had gone after Link as soon as he had gotten off of the boat.

Link was practically squirming with excitement, eyes alight with curiosity. The air didn't smell as salty here. The grass was softer, and something about the wind was different, though he couldn't place it.

Sky and Billy encouraged Link to talk to every stranger he encountered and go in every door. Why? Because they might give him things. He didn't really understand, but his curiosity gave him a reason to eagerly obey them.

"But shouldn't I knock?"

"You'd be surprised how much no one cares."

A creepy old guy in ratty clothes chased after Link screaming about his daughter. Billy and Sky told him to run and don't look back.

"But I thought I should talk to people?"

"Not those kind of people."

They explored the entire island. A man on the hill charged ridiculous prices for bombs (actual bombs!). Also, his hair was funny. Link got kicked out of his store for trying to touch it.

A different man sold red potion at a different shop. Although Link thought his neon green goggles were really cool, the bottled potion he displayed reminded him too much of Tetra's blue potion. The guides also seemed to lose interest as soon as the man didn't offer Link a free bottle. They didn't stay too long.

They also bought a sail—eighty rupees poorly spent, in Billy's opinion—from a guy in a big poofy hood who talked a lot before he had finally put the thing up for sale.

The boy held the large cloth in amazement. It was rough from use, and salt, yet very flexible. Though it was folded, he could tell it was much larger than himself. He spent a couple of minutes admiring it. Sky got a nostalgic look in his eyes when he looked at the sailcloth, and ceased speaking for a while afterwards.

Billy encouraged Link to stock up on food and water, which he did. The bag of dried meat made him acutely miss Grandma's homemade meals.

Link's head was constantly moving around with amazement. There was just so much to take in! "Orca said that Windfall Island is the most pop…popalaid…" He slowed to a stop, furrowing his brow. "Popu…"

"Populated?" Sky proffered.

"Yeah that!" He continued to run at speeds that only a delighted child could reach. "Orca said that—"

He stopped again. They had arrived at the town center. Link's eyes widened with amazement. "There's so many people here!" he exclaimed.

Billy and Sky looked at each other. All they saw were a handful of men and women standing around. This was the equivalent of a bustling market?

Both of the guides silently wondered, _Where did all the people go?_

Link didn't give them much time to mull this over, however. He got into a "No YOU'RE stupid!" fight with a gang of kids half his age. The spirit guides literally had to pull him away, with the boy struggling to break free and hollering at the top of his lungs to get in the last word. Though he was usually very good with kids (he was the oldest child on Outset), something about these children had really rubbed him the wrong way. Maybe it had been their cocky and obnoxious demeanor. They had reminded him of the pirates, especially Tetra, when he had first started out.

…but the guides found a minigame for him to play, and that was enough to distract him from his anger. A strange man named Salvatore ran the game. He kept changing voices and using paintings with holes cut out for his face to describe the story that apparently went with the game. Link found it a little unsettling when the man used a painting where his dour face was placed on to the body of a small child.

The game itself was good: "squid" of differing sizes were hidden on a square grid. Links was tasked with discovering where the squid were located and destroying all of them with a limited amount of cannon balls. The cannonballs were old bundled up socks. He was informed whether or not the square he chose to fire the sock at was hit or miss by Salvatore yelling into his ear "SPLOOOOSH!" for a miss and "KABOOOM!" for a hit. The sounds make Link start more than once.

The guides, however, were transfixed. After his first play through it, they somehow managed to direct him to hit each squid without missing a single shot. They didn't say much when Link asked them how they had managed to do that.

"I have some experience in these kinds of things," was the most detailed answer he got.

Billy thought of all the money he had poured into grabbing a box and trying to roll the large marble inside of it down a narrow pathway. Sky recalled the time wasted on freefalling out of the sky in an attempt to land on the right section of a giant spinning wheel. They were just glad that they were able to help Link before the game turned into an unhealthy and slightly embarrassing obsession.

As a prize, Link was awarded with a Piece of Heart. When Link touched it, he was given images of a younger Salvatore, with a fancy hairdo, sitting on a beach. He was painting something. Beyond his easel sat a young, pretty woman. She was seated on a stool, back erect and face full of amusement. She looked like she was trying not to laugh.

Link shook his head to clear his mind and looked up at the now grim-faced man.

"Just take it," he said flatly. He looked away.

Link left.

A man garbed in deep red and blue garments, living in the prettiest house the boy had ever seen, bemoaned his kidnapped daughter. The youth couldn't help but think about the poor man he had run away from before, and the contrast between their living situations.

After that, Link watched some guy in a weird white suit dance in front of a grave for a while. Then he went in a building and found an even weirder guy in an even weirder green suit in a jail cell. This made him think of the cell with Bo, and no matter how strange this small man in green tights was, Link felt bad for him.

"Link don't do it he's nuts."

But Link had already stepped on the switch. The guy, who shrilly introduced himself as Tingle, thanked Link (though oddly enough Tingle called him Mr. Fairy) and gave him a Sea Chart with such crude markings on it that Link questioned its legibility. But Grandma had taught him to be polite so he smiled, nodded, and watched as Tingle went on his way. It was not until later that he wondered why Tingle had been in there in the first place, and if releasing him back out into the world had been the best idea.

Then again, if he had not released Tingle, he would not have gotten access to the maze of tunnels beyond the cell. Sky had had to wait outside while Billy and Link crawled around inside (Billy refused to push him beak-first again). The first time, Link had been in front. He had come upon a dead end that held a rat. The rat had snickered maliciously and had used its tiny claws to pull a string. The string had activated a trap door that had dropped Link down a hole. The hole had led to the grotto that the King of Red Lions had been hiding out in. The embarrassed youth had refused to meet the boat's gaze and had run back to the cell, wondering what the heck a rat was doing controlling a trap door. Sky had tactfully said nothing when he had seen a furiously blushing Link bolt in and dive right back into the hole. The second time, Billy had led the way. His keen nose had helped them avoid the rats who had nothing better to do than wait around in dank tunnels all day, activating trap doors on anyone who happened to be crawling around in there. In a way, Link felt kind of bad for them.

Eventually, the tunnels opened up on to a small cave, where a treasure chest sat on a large rock. In the chest had been a weird red box with a circular piece of glass in the center. Billy had no idea what it was. Neither did Sky, upon their return. Link only discovered its purpose when he chanced upon a building with a man who specialized in the boxes.

A man with quite a long beard, named Lorenzo, grabbed Link as soon as he had entered. With bewildering speed, Link was dubbed the man's apprentice, given a rapid explanation that the red box that he was holding was a Pictobox and that it took Pictographs, and was kicked out the door with the hurried command of "sdilfhsofhsksdfkljl take a Pictograph of qdfkjlsdlkf postbox."

He spent a good half an hour in front of that postbox.

In that time, he tried to figure out how to work the darn Pictobox. He accidentally took several Pictographs, amongst which included his shoes, the sky, his face, and Sky's beak. The Pictograph for Sky came out with him invisible, though.

When a guy (Link noted the discrepancy between the genders on this island) in red overalls came over and furtively tried to mail a letter, Link almost dropped the Pictobox in his haste to take a Pict0graph. When he succeeded, the noise had been so loud that the man had looked up only to see a boy in a green tunic sprinting past him.

Lorenzo assigned Link two more tasks, both of which Link felt bad about. For the second one, he had had to scare the living daylights out of one old man and take a Pictograph of him while he cowered in fear. The third had involved tailing a young guy on his entire stroll across the island. Though the man had thought this was a little odd, he had not bothered too much with it. Link had been tasked with taking a Pictograph of when the man stole an admiring glance at the woman that he longed for. While the whole concept of romance was still icky to the youth, he knew that in a way, this was an invasion of privacy. His uneasiness had grown as he had continued to trail the man towards the market square. When he had indeed looked at a young woman, there had been such tenderness in his look that it had taken heated encouragement from the guides to get him to take the Pictograph. Even the children running up to provoke him could not erase his guilt.

Link had shown Lorenzo the Pictograph, and the man's congratulations had not made him feel any better. Lorenzo had described a firefly in the Forest Haven that could make the Pictobox take colored Pictographs. Link had been more interested in this 'Forest Haven' than the firefly, but he had promised the man to keep the firefly in mind.

He walked out of the building briskly, steering away from the gang of kids. He saw a pink pig strolling across the grass. He took a Pictograph of it. In the Pictograph, all he could see was the pig and the grass.

"Huh," he mumbled.

"What is it?" Sky asked. Billy was chasing the pig now, the pig squealing in terror as some unseen beast nipped at its hooves.

Link lifted the newly printed Pictograph up to the light. "It looks like a pig at home." It was indeed indiscernible if the pig was on Outset or Windfall. "Outset is so far away now."

Sky nodded.

The air smelled like flowers. The salt wasn't as noticeable.

"I feel so alone," Link said in a small voice. His head faced the ground. "No one to tell me what time to go to bed, or what I'm supposed to do…" He was silent. Sky was silent. Billy tackled the pig and both rolled down the hill.

"But I guess it's not all that bad," the boy reasoned. He put the Pictobox away and regarded Sky with a weak smile. "You guys are still here."

Sky's stomach plummeted. The reason he was here was because Link's life was going to become ten times more miserable. The bird just nodded, unsure if speaking in his current state would be wise.

With hands in his pockets, Link slowly made his way to Billy, now pinning the pig down in the surf. "I guess I have to be a hero a little while longer," he conceded.

"A little while," Sky managed to get out.

"…Thank you."

Sky focused on his feet. How will Link feel another two months from now? Would he be able to feel at all?

Billy ran up to them, soaking wet. He shook out his fur, tail wagging. He noticed that Sky was being mopey again and turned to Link, who grinned at him and laughed. All three then headed to the King of Red Lions. It was late afternoon.

There, Link was crudely instructed in how to work a sail. He wound up hitting his head against the bow and got tangled up in the sailcloth. Sky and Billy's efforts to help him only made it worse so they stayed in the front of the boat to try and avoid getting in Link's way.

It was a bitter struggle, and the sailcloth almost won, but Link managed to conquer it by unleashing all of his might upon it. The sail flapped loudly in the breeze. Link sat down heavily in the back seat of the boat, as if to announce his triumph over the piece of fabric. He gripped the tiller.

He turned it the wrong way.

"Ack! Sorry!"

He turned it the other way. The sail caught the wind and swelled. The King of Red Lions shot forward.

They slammed into a rocky outcropping. The impact of wood upon stone made everyone aboard cringe.

"You sure you don't need help, kid?"

"I can do this."

Another rock. A disgruntled noise from the sentient vessel.

"Link…"

"I can do this!"

And he did, after a while.

They were now on the Great Sea, Windfall rapidly disappearing into the distance. Link looked back in amazement. How easy leaving had been! He turned toward the future, where the open sky and sea awaited him.

The salty tang of the wind filled his lungs. The sun shone bright upon the waves. Sky was flying beside them now, with mighty wings catching the wind and lifting him upwards. Billy had his head stuck out facing Link. The wind blew through his fur and his tongue was dangling out of his mouth.

They were on the Sea.

Link threw back his head and laughed. So small, so insignificant. He had failed to save his sister. He missed his Grandma. Never had he felt so isolated.

Yet never had he felt so free.


	16. A Change in Demeanor

Author's Note: I...AM ALIVE! It took me forever to write this chapter, cursed writer's block. I like the way it came out, though. I can't guarantee when I'll have enough time to post another chapter, but just know I'll be trying! Thanks so much for sticking with the story. I hope you guys read, review, and enjoy!

"Master."

It was so bright outside. He squinted.

"Master."

Rubbing his eyes, he took a minute to enjoy the warm breeze that only blew above the clouds.

"Master Link."

His eyebrows twitched. "Yes, Fi?"

A young blue woman appeared from the hilt of his sheathed sword. The sunlight reflected off of her in ways that reminded Link of frosted glass. Or marbles.

"Master Link," she repeated in a melodic, yet monotone, voice. "Analysis reveals that you are severely fatigued. Rest is advised."

Link regarded the floating figure thoughtfully. It had been a month since she had become his aide in rescuing Zelda. It was kind of weird having a person in his sword, but the entire month itself had been pretty weird as a whole. She had definitely been helpful while he had explored Faron Woods and Eldin Volcano, but her demeanor made him feel a little awkward at times.

The thought of doing nothing while Zelda was out there somewhere getting chased by some purple freak was ridiculous to the young man.

He shook his head. "No, I'm fine, Fi." His voice lowered a bit, signifying conclusion.

Fi remained in front of him. Link blinked. She had usually, if not always, disappeared back into the Goddess Sword at this point. Instead, she was still floating there, face as expressionless as always.

"Master Link." She bobbed slightly in the air. Her cloak moved with the wind. "You are not fine. You are severely fatigued. Rest is advised."

Link waved a hand. "I'll just drink some red potion, Fi." He proceeded to walk around her. His sight turned black around the edges and he stumbled. Fi moved as to avoid collision.

"Master Link, red potion is only effective in treating wounds. There is a 95% chance that it will fail to alleviate your fatigue. Rest is highly advised."

That was the most forceful Fi had ever sounded. He pressed his fingers hard against the space between his eyes in an effort to stop his head from spinning. Maybe…rest wasn't such a bad idea. He had been running on three hours of sleep for the past month, always trying to catch up with Zelda as quickly as possible. At the sacred spring in Eldin, a woman in black had said that he was too slow, too weak to protect Zelda. Her words haunted his memory, strengthening his reluctance to stop.

Just the thought of that now spurred him to keep going.

"But…," he began, but his head hurt too much for him to come up with a legitimate excuse.

"Master, as your servant I am instructed to be concerned for your health." Her blank stare softened for a second, revealing actual concern. Had Link not been looking at her in that exact instant, he would have missed it.

He finally conceded.

"Alright Fi you win." Link threw his hands up in the air in dramatic defeat. The sudden movement made him sway dangerously. Fi moved behind him and guided him with slightly annoying verbal cues to a nearby bench, since there was a 90% chance that her master would collapse before they made it to his room in the Knight Academy.

Link knew as soon as he had flopped on to the rough wooden bench that he would wake up with a terrible pain in his back, but right now he didn't care.

"Fi."

"You called, master?"

He barely registered the flash of blue light that accompanied her leaping out of his sword, which had scared the heck out of him the first couple of times she had done it.

"Wake me up…" Big yawn. "In…an…hour. I hafter….slfkasj…Zelda…" His last slurred words dissolved into indecipherable mumbles. His eyes had shut long ago.

"As you wish, master."

Fi hovered beside the young man, her face about as expressive as a rock. Mathematically, they were losing time with each lapse of consciousness that Master Link underwent. The woman in black had stated that their rate of progression was lacking. Observation stated that her master had been deeply affected by this, causing him to maximize activity while minimizing time for recuperation. Fi had detected the negative effects in his haggard appearance and decrease in cognitive thinking. He would have walked into lava and flown his Loftwing into floating stones on numerous occasions, had Fi not intervened.

He also smiled much less now.

As his servant, this was a dismissible piece of information. However, in the past month, she had been exposed to a flood of data on humans. When she searched her databanks for references and answers as to why a human, such as her master, behaved the way they did, the sparse facts and figures that she found had a sense of fondness about them, as if the Goddess had found enjoyment in the lack of reasoning behind human behavior.

At first, Fi could not understand why the unknown would inspire such joy. Sufficient information led to properly perceived outcomes, which led to achieved goals. But then she began to accompany Master Link, to listen to when he would animatedly talk for hours about such things as his Loftwing and Zelda. She had watched him push himself far beyond what she had calculated to be what he was physically capable of and with all of the processing that she had done, she still did not have a satisfactory answer. Many things her master did seemed to her illogical, but she had had to accept them. An example was that he always thanked her, which Fi found superfluous and thus unnecessary. He hummed a lot. He constantly worried about Zelda and was willing to do anything to save her. He blatantly ignored her advice when he was low on health, always pressing on instead.

One specific incident that she was still examining had been filed under _Important _in her mind:

Their location: Faron Woods. Time: approximately 2:43 p.m. Master Link walked along the path, talking about the sailcloth that Zelda had given him. His hands moved around a lot, then created the imaginary outline of the cloth, now flailing around as he described how she had pushed him off of a giant statue. Fi followed along silently. She had come out to inform him of his pouch items' suitability to this area, but then he had begun to talk, and had not stopped for 12.4 minutes. She was not allowed to return to the Goddess Sword until he had finished speaking to her.

"Master Link," she finally said. Those two words punched through the wall of noise her master had been making.

He looked at her, but he did not stop walking. "Yeah, Fi?" He had some baby fat during this event, still new to the adventure. His eyes were wide as he tried to take in the strange surroundings. A smile danced on his lips.

"I request clarification."

"Uh. Sure."

"I have no need of the information you are giving me. Why do you proceed in doing so?"

He chewed his lower lip and scratched his nose. Fi continued to stare at him, the slightest twinge of annoyance forming within her over how slow a human's processing speed was.

After 1.2 minutes, an eternity for Fi's mental capability, he smiled and said, "It helps me from freaking out I guess. Talking about normal things makes everything seem a lot less crazy. I don't know. I always talk to my friends this way."

4.12 seconds later, Fi said, "Master, correction suggested."

"Okay."

"Your previous statement insinuated that my title is friend. This is incorrect. My title is servant."

Master Link raised his eyebrows. "Can't you be both?"

_Can't you be both?_ Fi was silent for much longer now. They walked for another 10.8 minutes in complete silence. Her master was now staring straight in front of him, lips pressed tight together. There was an 85% chance that he was trying to avoid any more speaking. Technically, she could have returned to the Goddess Sword, but she was occupied with trying to understand what he had said. Eventually, she spoke again:

"Master Link."

"Huh?"

"You said that talking about trivial matters provides you with a sense of comfort. This improves your performance, then?"

"I…uh, I guess?"

"Then I highly advise you to continue talking, master."

A smile broke out on his face and they proceeded down the well-lit path, and Fi silently listened as her master described to her everything that he had experienced in his eighteen years of existence.

End of memory. Fi's attention returned to her sleeping master.

"Friend," she said aloud. She looked to see if her master had heard her, but no. He was a very deep sleeper. Her lips seemed to twitch awkwardly before a petite smile appeared. Fi remained by her master, processing this sudden reaction.

An hour passed. Fi remained silent.

Link woke up with a snort. He cracked an eye open. Did he forget to close the porthole again? It was particularly windy and the air smelled much saltier than usual. Red came into view, but it wasn't Sky.

He was in a boat. Link shot up. Everything came flooding back. Speaking of his back, the King of Red Lions was no more comfortable than his closet. He groaned and rubbed his lower back, still clutching the sailcloth that he had been using as a makeshift blanket.

Billy was curled up on top of the stack of provisions located in the front of the boat. At first, Link had been a little leery of letting the wolf guard the food, but Billy had shown such a dislike for the dried meat that they had bought in massive quantities that the youth had finally relented. Apparently, Billy had had his fair share of tough old meat during his own adventure. Sky slept atop the boat's head.

The sky itself was a pearly gray; everything looked subdued so early in the morning…not that there was much outside of them and the Sea. Windfall was a shapeless mass behind them, and a new, unrecognizable island loomed tantalizing close, yet still very far away. Dark storm clouds were hovering above the island, as if waiting for them to come near it before the clouds released their drops of war.

An entirely new island…

Link reached into his pouch and grasped the telescope, eager to get a closer look. As he raised the telescope to his eye, he froze. Images of an emaciated Aryll flashed through his mind, and he curled up and died on the inside. Her eyes had looked small in their sockets and her hollow cheeks had made her smile almost death-like. Bile rose in his throat. If Grandma had seen that…

AGGH. That entire Forsaken Fortress was a slew of terrible memories. Barrels, the bird, Aryll…and Big Link. How rude had he been, just sobbing like a little kid, for how many hours? He hadn't cried like that for a long, long time. He hadn't even asked Big Link how he was, or if he was hungry, or…

Sky woke up to Link pressing the small end of the telescope hard against the spot between his eyes. The boat shook only a little as the bird descended on to the deck. Was Link already folding under the pressures of being a hero? He had seemed quite happy yesterday while they had been sailing, face alight with curiosity and joy. It had reminded him of his own face while he flew on his Loftwing.

A grumbly growl and some scrabbling, and then, "Ugh, kid…you're not a pirate anymore. Why are you up so damn early?"

Link shook his head slowly, removing the telescope from his forehead. A circular indentation remained on his face. He looked up at the sky, at the sun that had just begun to creep over the horizon. Somewhere, a seagull squawked.

"I have to save Aryll."

That was it. In those five words, Sky sensed his final acceptance. He had failed once, he would not do so again. Something in the boy's eyes grew a little colder. Billy opened his mouth, then closed it. He turned his back to them and went back to sleep. He really wished that he hadn't seen the boy's look.

The mast groaned as he pulled it up, signs of misuse. The King of Red Lions was still sleeping. Link was a little miffed, but he understood. All the old people on Outset slept a whole lot more than the younger people.

The wind was still blowing to the east, a stroke of luck for them. The sound of the sail filling up with wind made his heart leap even in his sadness. The boat surged forward.

Loud squawks heralded the arrival of seagulls, who seemed fond of following their boat. Sky took flight, the seagulls making way for him. They seemed to marvel at his brilliant plumage and large beak, and had apparently appointed him their leader. The seagulls only flew behind Sky, so that it looked like he was the head of his own gull gang. Sky didn't seem to mind.

Link lowered his head to check that they were still on course, then lowered his head even more so that he was looking at the boards beneath his feet. He had discovered yesterday that when in a tiny boat trying to cut through the powerful currents of the Great Sea, it is not the best idea to let go of the tiller. Even now as he gripped it, the boy had to strain his arm to try and to keep the tiller in place as they sped along. Link stared at the Sea Chart on the floor, which he kept in place by putting his feet on both edges of the paper. There wasn't much on it: Tetra's renditions of Outset and the Forsaken Fortress, and a whole lot of Sea. A tiny yellow arrow inched its away across the Chart. It was already in the quadrant to the right of Windfall, but not by much. The next quadrant over was the one they needed to get to, but it seemed a whole lot easier (and shorter) on paper than it actually was.

He let out a heavy sigh, imagining all of the hours that were going to be invested in sitting like this. Link wondered if he should have bought a pillow at Windfall, since this little chair thing he was sitting on wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world.

A snort. Link looked up.

"Hoo boy, I know that look," Billy said dryly. "You're thinking about how annoying travelling's gonna be, aren't ya?" He seemed rather smug for someone who had slept on a pile of pork jerky.

The way he said it made Link feel a little guilty, but there was an understanding in Billy's eyes. Still, hadn't he always longed of sailing across the Great Sea like this? But Link knew that that wasn't the problem.

"I feel like I'm running away," he confessed. The boy turned to look back, even though he knew that the Fortress was far, far away.

"Well. You're not," said Billy the Blunt. "What happens when you're not strong enough to kill something? You leave, get stronger, and then kill it. You're doing just that right now." He sneezed and shook his head.

Link mulled this over as they crested a swell in the water. He could hear the powerful beating of Sky's wings as he soared way overhead.

Billy turned to look out at the Sea. "Big-ass lake," he muttered to himself. "Salty as hell, too."

"What will I have to do to become stronger?" Link asked. The wolf slowly turned to look him in the eye. His blue eyes clearly held human intelligence, but there was also something else hidden underneath, a hint of the savageness that he was capable of.

"You're better off asking what you won't have to do," he responded in a growly voice. "Or more like what you refuse to do." Billy rolled over. He didn't see the grimace on Link's face as the wolf wiggled all over the packs of meat, trying to scratch his back. The movement subsided and Billy simply lay in the sun, basking in its warmth while feeling the wind in his fur and the rocking of the boat. He raised a paw in the air. "You'll be surprised, kid, when you look back on the things you did to save the people you care about."

Link had already killed to try to save Aryll. What worse things were there?

The conversation died. Link continued to man the tiller and Billy went back to sleep.

An hour passed. Two hours. Three.

The sky turned dark. Link could no longer feel his butt. Sky landed in the boat and nestled in. The young boy flinched as the first drops of water touched his face. Link looked up to see the stormclouds brooding overhead. He glanced at the horizon and started at how close they were to the new island.

Any sparks of excitement and curiosity in him were immediately doused by the sudden onslaught of rain that drenched everyone in the boat in a matter of seconds.

Sky did his best to stoically ignore the rain, though it was obvious that he was not enjoying it. Billy woke up cursing and sprawled over the meat in an attempt to protect it from getting wet, muttering more curses every few seconds.

Link cast about helplessly for anything to help them get out of the rain, but there was nothing in sight save the island, and even that was difficult to see in this weather. The Sea grew wilder and the boat was flung from wave to wave. The tiller was growing slippery. The wind howled.

Lightning flashed. In that brief moment, he could see the faces of Sky and Billy, both turned to watch him. The steely blue eyes of the wolf and the golden ones of the bird asked him the same question: _Are you up for this?_

Link was reminded of the rain in that one nightmare he had had. How terrified he had been then, how helpless. He had been scared that first night aboard the pirate ship, having never worked a day in his life and refusing to use the sword ever again. Then it turned out that the alleged monster in his dream was one of the coolest people he had ever met, and now counted amongst one of his best friends, along with Sky and Billy. His hands were now rough and calloused from rope swinging and hard labor. He actually had some muscles now and he was no longer afraid to kill. Link grit his teeth and tugged his cap tighter on to his head. He looked back at the spirit guides: _I got this_.

His grip on the tiller tensed. He looked out at the raging Sea. He was going to get them to that island. He was different now. He was stronger.

And he did get them to the island. It just took a while, since the wind had up and changed direction in the storm. The sun had gone down by the time Link had succeeded in guiding them safely to the island, and it was so dark that they had actually collided with the rocky shore. The waters wildly lashed across the rock, as if attempting to drag the island down into the depths. Link could barely make out rocks and trees on the island, and there was a strange…dome shape on the upper level of the island.

Sky flew for all of five seconds to get on the island before hastily landing. The rain was messing up his flying, and he was hesitant to fly at all with his feathers so soaked. He hunched over and tried to take cover under a tiny sapling while he turned to watch the others walk on to not-so-dry land.

Billy leaped out of the side of the boat and paddled to the shore, no longer caring about how wet he was. Link did the same, but turned around as soon as he came on to shore.

"Mr. King of Red Lions…"

The sailboat had not spoken a single word the entire day, always facing forward. Link almost forgot that he could speak. The stern manner of the boat, along with his face, reminded the boy of Orca. Needless to say, he was a bit intimidated.

The King of Red Lions turned to him and finally spoke. "Do not worry, Link. I am immune to the effects of rain, and I am able to move myself enough that I will be able to stop myself from being dragged away by the water. Find somewhere to stay for the night. I will be waiting here."

"Are you sure?" He felt really bad about leaving the boat out here in such terrible weather. The wind recommenced its howling as if to highlight his point.

"I am sure," the boat said in a way that almost felt…fatherly? Whatever it was, Link believed him.

Link swallowed and gave him a good _yes sir_ nod before he trudged away.

There wasn't much on the island save for trees too small to hide under and long, prickly grass. He was pretty sure the island was deserted, though in a flash of lightning, he had mistaken an oddly shaped tree on one of the tiny sub-islands as a person, and had wasted several minutes trying to get its attention.

All that was left for them was the dome on the top of the island. Its surface was smooth and cool, slick from the rain. Link moved his hands over it, trying to see if there was a doorway of some sort. The guides insisted that they would find something about it, if they looked hard enough. Tentatively, the youth knocked on it.

"It's hollow!" Link exclaimed over the roar of the wind. This led to a frantic search for an opening, any opening that would get them out of this hellish storm.

Sky walked along the top of the dome, pecking experimentally. Billy tried to dig underneath the thing, but that only warranted him copious amounts of mud. The rain continued to assault them and before long Link was shivering. Sheer willpower had kept him from doing so while sailing, but now, cold and exhausted on this island, he finally succumbed to it. He knelt down in the grass and huddled next to the dome, praying that it would provide some sort of warmth. The rain was relentless. Sky's beak resounding against the dome and Billy's paws clawing at the earth made for a discordant lullaby. If Link listened to the wind's scream enough, he could almost make out words.

This was going to be his worst sleep ever. His back was cold. His ears were ringing. Link turned around so that he faced the dome. Weird. Why was wind hitting his face from this direction? He opened his eyes to see a small crawlspace in the dome.

"Guys! I found it! I found a way into the dome!" His joyous yells were able to be heard above the storm, and in minutes, everyone was out of the rain.

The inside of the dome was nice enough. There seemed to be a faint glow that lit up the inside of it, though the source of this illumination was unknown. The air had a touch of warmth. Link had immediately started wringing out his clothes. Billy and Sky, however, had gathered around the hole in the middle of the ground.

"Aren't you guys cold?" Link asked.

"Kid," Billy said. "This is a hole."

Link walked over to them and peered down, but all he could see was darkness. "…So?"

"Kid!" Billy snapped. "This is a _hole_."

"Holes lead to…interesting surprises," Sky explained. He tilted his head sideways and tried to catch sounds of mooing, but he heard none.

The guides spent quite a while staring at the hole.

"…should we go down?" Link suggested.

The guides needed no further encouragement, as they dove in as soon as he had suggested it. Link himself was suspicious of ominous holes in the ground, but curiosity soon got the better of him and he too descended into the depths.

The fall was longer than Link expected, but he managed to roll out of it with only the breath knocked out of him. It was a lot warmer down here already, but in a stuffy sort of way. The grass was softer here, though Link didn't know how it grew without sunlight. It seemed that the spirit guides had had very good experiences with such areas, since they were traipsing around all over the place, as if trying to uncover any secrets.

Link scratched his nose and began to wander a bit. There didn't seem to be much here though, except for grass and a really big rock. Billy kept barking at it, yelling something about bombs. Link shook his head let Billy have his fun. He walked over to Sky, who was standing on slightly elevated ground, and sat down. Still wet, he took off his hat and tried to wring out his hair. Why did it have to be so poofy?!

Sky looked at him. "I'm surprised, Link. I thought you would be more excited about this."

"I'm cold and wet and tired." His stomach growled. "And hungry." Why had he forgotten to grab some meat from the King of Red Lions?! Link lay on his side and tried to curl up, damp clothes and all. "Maybe I'll look more tomorrow," he mumbled into the ground.

Sky gave the prone figure an understanding smile. He petted Link's head with his wing. This was his latest reincarnation and yet no matter how many times it happened, he still felt bad for them. Link cracked one eye open. Sky had never done this to him before, but this was sort of comforting. It reminded him of Grandma, when she would pat him until he fell asleep.

Due to the angle at which he was positioned, Link was unable to see Sky. However, he could see the ground. And the ground looked back.

Link yelped and scooted backwards. Two large yellow eyes had appeared out of the ground. Now they were rising into the air, and Link realized that the eyes were attached to something. Something…red. A large red blob with a big mouth.

"A ChuChu," Sky remarked. "Well they're not that hard…Link?"

Link was pressed hard against the wall as the Red ChuChu inched closer. His pupils were dilated and he was trembling from sheer terror. The gleam of that glop. The smell. Someone had made…_living_ _medicine_!

"WAGH!" he yelped as four more appeared behind the original. He shook his head violently. "No I don't want it I'm not sick I promise!"

Sky turned to him. "Link," he said with mild exasperation. "What are you talking about? They're monsters. Really weak ones, at that."

"Yeah kid stop being such a scaredy cat," Billy added. "See, they go down real—oh."

Billy had leaped at one of them, teeth bared, but he had pierced right through the gelatinous material, and now was stuck halfway through a ChuChu. The wolf struggled to free himself, but it only seemed to get him even more stuck. The ChuChu didn't seem to mind a large wolf cursing and writhing in its abdomen. Eventually the wolf just gave up and stared hard at the ground.

"Uh…so…pretend that didn't just happen."

Sky covered his face with his wing. "Link, you'll have to cut him free. Honestly, one strong swing of your sword should do it."

"But…," Link hissed. "Medicine tastes _bad_." He said this as if this was the ultimate condemnation.

Sky had dealt with his own child's dislike for medicine, but that didn't mean that he wanted to go through it again. Shouldn't Link have gotten over this by now?

A ChuChu leaped on to their level and Sky sidestepped away. One whiff of the monster caused Link to gag and make one of the ugliest grimaces Sky had ever seen in all of his years of existence. Billy's ChuChu shuffled along at a much slower rate than its bretheren. Billy refused to accept the situation, and pretended that he was just taking a lovely stroll through Ordon Ranch, maybe petting some goats, instead of being stuck inside a sentient jelly blob.

Looking at the absolute horror on the young hero's face, Sky was suddenly struck with an idea.

"Link!" he turned around and called to the boy.

The boy was plastered against the wall again, terrified as the ChuChu inched closer and closer to him. His eyes darted to Sky and then back at the ChuChu.

"Do you know what ChuChus do, Link?" Sky leaned in as if telling a scary story, whispering eerily, "They jump in your mouth and make you _eat_ them!"

"NOOO!" Link yelled and with one fell swoop, grabbed his sword and sliced the creature in half. The two halves fell to the ground and dissolved back into the earth from whence they came, leaving behind only a Rupee and the core of the ChuChu, a big red glob of goo. "YAAAAH!" Link seemed to have gone on a rampage, slicing through every ChuChu he saw. "YOU! TASTE! REALLY! BAD!" Here he leaped high into the air and plunged his blade into the forehead of one. There he felled two of them at the same time with a fearsome Spin Attack. Soon Billy was freed from his gelatinous prison. He scooched away and hid in some grass, hearing Midna's peals of laughter in his mind. As more Chuchus fell, more and more seemed to spawn, but the fear in Link powered him through the jelly horde. In a matter of minutes, they had all disappeared. All that remained were Rupees and the Chu Jelly blobs that littered the floor and pulsed every other second. Sky felt kind of bad, but it sure worked…

Link collected the Rupees on his own, but it took an infinite amount of coaxing to get him to even think about touching the Chu Jelly.

"Link, I guarantee you that someone is bound to want these," Sky said. He twisted around to call out to Billy, "Isn't that right, Billy?"

"I'm not here. That never happened." Was the only response he got.

Link shook his head. Okay, time for a new tactic.

"Think of them as prizes you can show everyone when you get back," Sky prompted. "Won't that be cool? You can show everyone that you killed a bunch of medicine monsters!"

This Link took into consideration. Sky sighed with relief when the boy finally took out his Spoils Bag. After all of the blobs (which Link treated like a radioactive substance) were collected, Link looked back at Sky with a _there, are you happy?_ expression on his face. Wait—that chest wasn't there before! Link ran up to the chest and heaved the lid open. He triumphantly held up the Piece of Heart and immediately felt its warming effects. He lay down and lost himself in the memory of the Piece of Heart for a while.

The ground wasn't that bad to sleep on. If he listened hard enough, he could hear the drumming of the rain on the dome above them. His eyes slid shut, but he could not fall asleep; the adrenaline from fighting all those yucky creatures was still pumping through his veins. The memory was a little weird. Apparently, a mother and a son had lived here before. Judging from the quality of their clothes, they had been stranded here. In the memory, the boy was gathering up Chu Jelly blobs to put into a small pot the mother had set over a fire. Both seemed to be having a good time in the memory. The woman had large green goggles that she had pushed on to her forehead. Where had Link seen those before…?

Link spoke while still lying down, "Sky?"

"Yes?" The voice was weary, but Link didn't notice.

"What were you before you died?"

A pause. "What do you mean?"

"Like what kind of job did you have?"

Another pause, but for a different reason. "I…was a king," Sky said slowly. "I was the king of Hyrule. I was in charge of fending off monsters and protecting my people." His voice began to swell with nostalgia as well as melancholy. "I was the first king, a strong king. My people loved me. I was known as the King of the Red Loftwing."

"Wow," Link said in a small voice. "And you were a hero?"

"I was the Hero of the Sky, yes."

Link rolled over on to his stomach. "I'm a hero too! If only for a little while. Will I also be a king?"

Sky smiled weakly. "Who knows? Maybe you'll discover a whole new land and become its king."

The boy's eyes were alight, imagining all the cool things he could do as a king. He would never have to take medicine ever again! He turned to Billy, over there in the patch of grass. "Billy! Were you a king too?"

An obnoxious snort told them that he was listening. "King of the goats, maybe. You have to marry a princess to become a king, kid." He sounded…rueful?

Link made a face. "Sky, you married a princess?"

Sky laughed gently. "Yes, you could say that."

The youth shook his head. "I don't know if I could do that. Girls are annoying. I don't even know any princesses."

"Who knows who you might run into?" Sky said with the tenderness of a father speaking to his son, "Think about that tomorrow. Go to sleep."

Link frowned, but he agreed. His internal clock told him Grandma would have tucked him in an hour ago. He rolled back over and closed his eyes again. "Good night, Sky."

"Good night."

"Good night, Billy."

"Yeah, yeah. Go to sleep."

And Link slept. He dreamt that an entire army of ChuChus were advancing upon him, and that the only way to stop them from jumping into his mouth was to marry Tetra, who was some reason a princess. But Link took one look at her in a big stuffy dress and laughed so hard that he woke up in the middle of the night before going back to sleep.

While a young boy slept hidden away in the depths of an inconspicuous island, a young girl sat in a jail cell fighting despair, while across the Sea an old woman began to fall ill from being sick with worry over her beloved grandchildren. And on another island, a whole other slew of family problems played out.

The moon shone on the waters around Dragon Roost Island, where usually the silence of the night would only be broken by the beating of wings as a Rito came in late from their shift. Yet for the past few days, day and night had been rent by the roars of distress from the giant red dragon that perched atop the volcano at the center of the island. Smoke from the dragon's breath obscured the peak and prevented anyone who didn't dare ascend to the atop (which was everyone) from seeing what was going on.

A young Rito girl, pale as the moon which shined upon her, sighed and gave up trying to peer through the smoke clouds. Her red eyes turned from the peak and instead focused on the letter that she held in her delicate hands. The chieftain had given her this letter, assigning her the role of mediator between him and his son. His words played in her mind again.

_Medli_—here she had bowed, since being an attendant of Valoo meant being respectful and courteous to everyone—_I want you to give this letter to Prince Komali_—not even "my son"—_and judging from his reaction, convince him to stop moping about_.

"Easier said than done," Medli mumbled weakly to herself. Of all of the times for Valoo to go insane, why did it have to be just as Komali was about to take one of the dragon's scales? Now he was traumatized and spent all of his time hiding in his room. Instead of talking to the Prince like any sort of decent father, the Chieftain had instead given the prince's best friend a letter to give to him. If that didn't show what kind of a mire their father-son relationship was in, well then Medli didn't know what could.

Medli wished that Komali's grandmother was still alive. She always knew what to do, being an attendant of Valoo of all. She would have climbed right up to the mountain and sorted all of this out, including the problem between the Chieftain and his son. Medli was an attendant, too…in training. Her instruction had been cut short when the last surviving attendant, Komali's grandmother, had passed on. This had been hard on everyone, especially Komali. Medli had felt it too. It was another long tradition that Ritos born with pale skin were taken away at birth and raised by an attendant of Valoo, so that one day the child could take the place as attendant to the Rito's guardian. Komali's grandmother had been the closest thing Medli had had to a mother.

But the Rito girl knew that she was nowhere close to being as good as Komali's grandmother had been. The only thing she was kind of good at was the harp. No way she would be able to fly all the way up to the top of the peak and talk to Valoo. Oh, but if she could…the Chieftain and the Prince might finally start talking, and how happy everyone would be! The thought was too promising, and the idea began to grow in her mind. Well, she would have to try!

Medli put the letter in her pocket and held her arms far from her sides. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get a feel for the wind. _Okay, just like before_…

It had been two weeks since she had gotten her own scale, and Valoo had begun acting temperamental even then. She had been the last one to successfully get a scale, and in that time, her wings had begun to grow. If she concentrated enough, she could get the feathers to spread. How Quill and the other postmen did it with such ease, she couldn't begin to imagine. Gradually, her arms dissolved into large white wings tipped with black, and her feet turned into talons. With a running start, she leaped off of the wooden platform and soared through the air. Medli gasped with joy at the sensation of flight, which she had only tried once before. She tilted her wing and was delighted to find herself going in a circle.

But she was falling fast.

_My wings aren't strong enough yet!_she thought in a panicky voice. The Sea looked like it was coming up to meet her, and she knew that if she fell, her feathers would become too heavy and she would drown. Beating her wings as hard as she could, she managed to get herself back up on to the platform and fell to her knees, gasping from exertion. No, she was definitely not strong enough to fly all the way to the top of the mountain by herself. She would need help, but who…?

A noise by the doorway got Medli to look up. It was Komali, hiding halfway behind the door, still clutching the radiant orb that his grandmother had given him. Komali had longed to fly, and he had spoken excitedly about it up to his failed ascension. Every time someone mentioned flying, it made Medli feel guilty as she watched Komali immediately grow despondent. She herself had avoided the subject to the best of her ability, but from the current devastated look on his face, it was safe to assume that he had seen her little display.

"Komali," she began. Not knowing what else to do, she reached into her pocket for the letter.

The young prince's large eyes welled up with tears. He quickly turned and ran away, holding the sacred jewel as he sprinted for his room.

"Wait Komali I—" Medli jumped up and grabbed on to the doorframe with one hand and held out the letter in the other. But Komali was already too far away.

As she heard his door slam, she cried out, "I'M SORRY!"

But he did not hear her.

"There you are, daddy!"

He turned and smiled. "Ah, sorry, princess. I was just taking a stroll."

"I'm not a princess anymore daddy. I am the Queen of Hyrule now!" And she was. How quickly the years passed…

"Yes, but you'll always be my little princess."

She frowned and placed her hands on her hips, just like her mother. "You have to stop wandering off like that! You had me worried sick!"

"I was just visiting an old friend, is all."

He felt her sitting down beside him. The sunlight shone through the hole in the temple ceiling, lighting upon the sword. Both sat admiring it for a while, the old man remembering the times that he had wielded the blade in battle and in friendship.

"I know you were," said his daughter softly. She brushed blond hair out of her eyes. "What was she like?"

The old man closed his eyes and smiled a weary smile. "I must have told you a million times. She was the smartest person I have ever known outside of your mother. She could tell what a monster's weak point was in a matter of seconds, and whether or not the items I carried were suited to the current area."

"I wish I could have met her," said the Queen with a pout, "I bet she would side with me when Tarmigan and I argue over something."

"Lay off the boy," the old king said. "I knew his parents very well. I went to the Knight Academy with them, two outstanding students in their own right." He turned back to the Master Sword. "…but yes, she probably would always agree with you. What with your mother gone now, she's all I have left."

That got him a slap on the shoulder. "Daddy! Don't talk like that!"

No reaction.

"Daddy?" The slap became a hesitant nudge. The Queen's blue eyes filled with tears, yet a soft smile appeared on her face. She stroked the old wrinkled face of her father.

"…oh daddy. At least you died with a smile on your face." She hugged her father for the last time.

From beside her, the spirit of Link watched her and wished his daughter the best of luck. It was time for him to move on. The world faded away, replaced by a brilliant blue sky. His joints no longer ached, and his lungs no longer filled with fluid. He was young, immortal. Link belted out a laugh to the sky, and though he missed his daughter, he yearned to be reunited with his wife.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, three entities appeared in front of him, their brilliance so blinding that he could only make out their different colors: red, blue, and green. Zelda had described these beings before as the three sister goddesses whose company she had given up to live a mortal life and save the land from Demise. The three goddesses were Din, Nayru, and Farore.

"Well if it isn't the man who took Hylia from us!" said Din, the red one, sharply.

He was already off to a great start.

"Din, calm yourself. He sacrificed everything to protect her," chided Nayru, the blue one.

"Thank you, hero, for all that you have done," said Farore.

A lengthy quiet.

"That's it?" Link couldn't help but say. He devoted his blood, sweat, and tears to saving everyone and all he got was a thank you? Usually he would be satisfied with just gratitude, but from the way they were speaking to him, it was obvious that Din was not the only one who harbored dislike towards him. They made him feel small, insignificant. _Good job, have a cookie. Get out of my sight._

"That's it?" Din huffed. "You should be honored to even speak to us!"

"You expect more?" Nayru asked. "Even when you did not properly finish off Demise?"

Link was stunned. "Wha…?"

"He said that curse, didn't he?" Farore prompted. "That some part of his evil would be reincarnated along with the spirit of the hero chosen by the gods. You didn't defeat him properly."

Link's eyes narrowed. "But…"

The goddesses turned their backs on their hero.

"Well, good job anyway," Din said dismissively. "Go have fun with your precious Zelda while we go reincarnate you to fight off the evil."

Finding Zelda in the afterlife was tempting, but he couldn't leave just like that. He leaned forward and stuck out his hand. "W-Wait!"

The goddesses half-turned, obviously a bit cross. Link withdrew his hand, but he continued to speak. "Will this…new me remember everything?"

"Pff," Din snorted. What a sound for a goddess to make.

"Of course not," was the simple response Nayru gave him.

Link recalled all of the trials, all of the pain that he had had to face on his travels. With Fi asleep in the Master Sword, would there be anyone to help the new Link?

He cast a longing look at the open expanse of sky all around him, but he knew what he must do. Zelda would have to wait. Someone needed him. He needed himself. Link set his face and looked up at the goddesses with a determined air that all Links were known for.

"I want to help him."

"sky…Sky!"

"Ah…what?" The bird was jerked out of his reverie. He looked around to see a large island looming in the distance.

"Oh, are we almost there?" he said faintly.

"What were you thinking about?" Link asked. Sky regarded him, with his wide eyes that already showed signs of weariness, and said, "Nothing."

Link shook his head. Sometimes Sky was so weird. Then again, he was usually really sad looking when he was acting this way, so Link just left him alone.

Staring at the still-featureless island, the boy envisioned this place as the first step on his path. Soon, he would be strong enough to go back to the Forsaken Fortress and fight not only the bird but the green man, and then save his sister.

Seagulls cawed as they flew above. Billy eyed them hungrily.

Looking across the Sea, the sunlight reflected off the many waves, making it seem like the sun had created a giant pattern of scales, like on the backs of the mighty dragons that Orca told Link about. Link suddenly wondered if he was making the Sea dragon mad by sailing all over it. With a hasty shake of his head, he dismissed the thought.

Now was not the time to be thinking about angry dragons.


End file.
